SPEAKER_01: Today's reading is Romans chapter eight, verse fourteen to twenty-fifth.
SPEAKER_01: For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
SPEAKER_01: For you didn't receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry.
SPEAKER_01: Abba, Father.
SPEAKER_01: The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children's heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provide we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
SPEAKER_01: For I consider that we suffering of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
SPEAKER_01: For the creations wait with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.
SPEAKER_01: For the creations was subject 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.
SPEAKER_01: For we know that the whole creation has been growing together in the pains of childbirth until now.
SPEAKER_01: And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the spirit grown bodily as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies, for this hope we were saved.
SPEAKER_01: Now hope that is seen is not hope.
SPEAKER_01: For who hopes for what he sees?
SPEAKER_01: But if we hope for what we don't see, we wait for it with patience.
SPEAKER_01: And so reads God's words.
SPEAKER_02: Turn to Romans chapter 8.
SPEAKER_02: If you don't have a Bible app, um just search for Romans 8 ESV.
SPEAKER_02: That's the English Standard Version, that's the version that we're in, and you'll be able to follow along.
SPEAKER_02: It's very important that you follow along, especially in a book like Romans, because it's quite densely packed.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and it's good to see those connections uh for for yourself.
SPEAKER_02: If you're here this morning and uh you wouldn't describe yourself as a as a follower of Jesus, it's just something that you're kind of you're working out, then you're very welcome here.
SPEAKER_02: Now, I suspect that one of the questions that that maybe you have or kind of it boils down to as you explore Christianity is the question, well, is it is it worth it?
SPEAKER_02: Is Chris is becoming a Christian, is becoming a follower of Jesus uh worth it?
SPEAKER_02: All of the perceived changes, the things that that I might need to turn away from that I particularly like, or the hassle of being regarded differently by friends or family, uh, because Christians are weird, right?
SPEAKER_02: We believe in a homeless guy that came back from the dead.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, we're kind of inherently strange.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and so you might think, well, is it is it worth it?
SPEAKER_02: Um, that might be something that you wrestle with.
SPEAKER_02: And even if you are a Christian here this morning, you might be in a season of life or faith where you're struggling so deeply with either questions of faith or uh the circumstances that you find yourself in that you yourself are asking, well, is it worth my continuing?
SPEAKER_02: Is persevering as a follower of Jesus worth it?
SPEAKER_02: Is it worth the the anguish that I feel?
SPEAKER_02: Is it worth the unhappiness, the sacrifice of being faithful to Jesus?
SPEAKER_02: Is is it is it worth it?
SPEAKER_02: Every Christian uh finds himself in that place uh at one time or another, because being a follower of Jesus has a cost to it.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus himself encourages us to to count the cost of what it is to to follow him.
SPEAKER_02: He says, you know, deny yourself, take up your cross and and follow me.
SPEAKER_02: And and uh and to walk that road does cause us all at various points to think, well, is it is it worth it?
SPEAKER_02: There are times even when we think that the that it's not, that the the temporal trade-off, it would be easier to walk away from Jesus, uh from what he says.
SPEAKER_02: It would be easier to walk away from this circumstance, from uh from this relationship, from this marriage.
SPEAKER_02: It'd be easier to walk away from your brothers and sisters here at City Church because it's just too hard.
SPEAKER_02: The fight is too hard, the road is is too long.
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't seem that it's worth it.
SPEAKER_02: And so for all of us who will at one point or are now asking, is it worth it?
SPEAKER_02: I want to encourage you this morning.
SPEAKER_02: Paul wants to encourage you this morning.
SPEAKER_02: Obviously, my answer is going to be yes, but don't switch off.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna give you reasons, two major reasons why it's worth it.
SPEAKER_02: And my hope, my prayer for you this week as I've been looking at this text is that is that settling these reasons at the base of your life, at the base of your soul, will give you a kind of stability that will enable you to endure the seasons of suffering and difficulty that you find yourself in.
SPEAKER_02: So is it worth it?
SPEAKER_02: Yes, two reasons.
SPEAKER_02: First reason, because you're a son, not a slave.
SPEAKER_02: Now, I know that as soon as I say that, I'm not using the word son as exclusionary of daughters.
SPEAKER_02: I'm using it because I like illustration or sorry, alliteration at the top of points.
SPEAKER_02: And uh I couldn't think of another word that rhymed with daughter.
SPEAKER_02: Uh no, that's not the only reason.
SPEAKER_02: It is because it's the primary word that Paul uses here, because he's not excluding uh the daughters of God.
SPEAKER_02: He's bringing out something very particular, that the son was an heir.
SPEAKER_02: And so I want to encourage you, uh daughters, that you are, in a sense, a son.
SPEAKER_02: That is, you are an heir of God's kingdom, both sons and daughters.
SPEAKER_02: He interchanges it with children, but he primarily uses the word son.
SPEAKER_02: But I just want you to know that I'm not excluding uh women.
SPEAKER_02: Men and women in Christ are together heirs of the kingdom of God, and in that sense, are together sons of the living God.
SPEAKER_02: We're sons, not slaves, we're children, not chattel.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's doesn't really work quite as well.
SPEAKER_02: We're children, not slaves.
SPEAKER_02: Paul is giving us in laying out that contrast, he's giving us a new way to approach God.
SPEAKER_02: You see what he says, he didn't put God didn't give you a spirit of slavery, verse 15.
SPEAKER_02: Do you see it?
SPEAKER_02: For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you've uh you've received a spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry, Abba, Father.
SPEAKER_02: You haven't been given a spirit of slavery, you've been given a spirit of sonship.
SPEAKER_02: That is, there is a new relationship that exists between you and God because of your faith in Jesus, that you have been adopted, welcomed into the family of God, that you're not simply a servant, a hired man, a hired woman, you're not a slave, you're not a workman who God could bring in and then send away, somebody who just tries to earn God's favor.
SPEAKER_02: No, no, you are a you're a son, you're a child, and therefore you're an heir.
SPEAKER_02: Not because of any obedience that you might render to God.
SPEAKER_02: That's that's slave language.
SPEAKER_02: Slaves obey in order to earn.
SPEAKER_02: No, no, no, a a son is an heir, a child is an heir simply because of their relationship to the father.
SPEAKER_02: Slaves can be dismissed, but a son always has a place in his father's house.
SPEAKER_02: Do you want to know what shame does?
SPEAKER_02: We sin and we feel ashamed, we carry shame of things that have happened uh to us, things that we have that we've done.
SPEAKER_02: One of the effects, the ongoing effects that that has in our life is that that causes us to um to demote ourselves uh in uh in our relationship with God.
SPEAKER_02: We come to God and we say, I I can't forgive myself for what I've done, and you shouldn't either um treat me not as a child, uh, but treat me as a servant.
SPEAKER_02: That's exactly what the younger brother in the story of the prodigal son does.
SPEAKER_02: Because of the the sin and the shame that he's carrying of how he rejected his father and went off and lived his his own way, and he's been so humbled and brought so low that he thinks, well, maybe God, maybe God will welcome me back, but he should never welcome me back as a child.
SPEAKER_02: He should never welcome me back as a as a son because the things that I have done are too bad.
SPEAKER_02: Shame does that.
SPEAKER_02: Shame causes us to demote ourselves.
SPEAKER_02: But God won't hear any of it.
SPEAKER_02: Do you see?
SPEAKER_02: He hasn't given us a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, he's given us a spirit of what?
SPEAKER_02: Adoption is sons.
SPEAKER_02: Do you know what the antidote is to the shame that you feel?
SPEAKER_02: It's not working it off as a hired hand in God's family, in God's kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: The antidote to the shame that you feel is the grace of sonship.
SPEAKER_02: The gift of being welcomed home as a child, embraced by the Father.
SPEAKER_02: That's the only thing that will ultimately deal with the shame that you feel.
SPEAKER_02: Of accepting that welcome back, allowing him to treat you as a child again, loved, restored, blessed, forgiven by your heavenly father who loves you.
SPEAKER_02: And so today, really, it's worth kind of wrestling in your own mind through this question of well, am I a slave or am I a son?
SPEAKER_02: Am I relating to God like a hired man, a servant?
SPEAKER_02: Or is a child?
SPEAKER_02: If you're not a follower of God at all, um, there is something else in your life that that you're pursuing.
SPEAKER_02: And maybe it's the maybe it's the acceptance of others, maybe it's uh career, maybe it's a particular relationship, maybe it's power.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and and those those false gods, uh what the Bible calls idols, let me tell you about them.
SPEAKER_02: Um they only ever have slaves.
SPEAKER_02: They never have sons.
SPEAKER_02: They only ever have slaves.
SPEAKER_02: You're never a son to money, you're never a child to your career, uh, you're never a daughter to sex, no, you're a slave to those things.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because they demand your obedience, they demand your time, they demand that you sacrifice yourself and relationships on their altar.
SPEAKER_02: And well, you know what else?
SPEAKER_02: They trap you.
SPEAKER_02: How do they trap you?
SPEAKER_02: They trap you with shame.
SPEAKER_02: Not so with our God.
SPEAKER_02: He wants to set you free and give you the spirit of sonship.
SPEAKER_02: So are you a slave or are you a son?
SPEAKER_02: Are you a servant or are you a child?
SPEAKER_02: Let me briefly contrast them out in different ways.
SPEAKER_02: The servant and the child have a different relationship with the father.
SPEAKER_02: A slave is a hired hand, a son is adopted.
SPEAKER_02: Slaves obey out of fear or out of duty or out of a desire to earn, but not a child.
SPEAKER_02: No, no, no.
SPEAKER_02: A child lives in his father's house and listens to her father's voice out of the security that comes from a relationship of love.
SPEAKER_02: And so you listen to your father not out of fear, but because you know that he loves you.
SPEAKER_02: How are you relating to God?
SPEAKER_02: Are you relating to him as a slave or as a son?
SPEAKER_02: Slaves and sons have, secondly, a different security, therefore.
SPEAKER_02: Paul says that a slave would fall back into fear.
SPEAKER_02: Fear based on, well, what if I've failed him?
SPEAKER_02: How will he think of me?
SPEAKER_02: Or we obey because we are afraid of the rejection or the punishment that we might face.
SPEAKER_02: We obey because we are afraid of being sent away.
SPEAKER_02: Some of you have been in fear-based relationships, maybe with other Christians, maybe with Christian parents, where actually the relationship is one of if I don't obey, then I will be punished, I'll be sent away, I'll be rejected.
SPEAKER_02: That's a fear-based dynamic.
SPEAKER_02: That's the spirit of slavery.
SPEAKER_02: That is not the spirit of sonship.
SPEAKER_02: Even when they fail.
SPEAKER_02: At that point, they are assured of their father's forgiveness.
SPEAKER_02: It's one of the reasons why, on a weekly basis, when we gather, we confess our sins.
SPEAKER_02: We confess our sins in the confident knowledge that God stands ready to abundantly forgive us.
SPEAKER_02: And so when we come together and we are either led as we were this morning by Jared in acknowledging our sins, or we we read the words of a confession together, we do so not with any sort of sense of maybe he will, maybe he won't, not sure.
SPEAKER_02: Let's let's roll the dice, let's toss the coin and see if God's going to forgive me this week.
SPEAKER_02: No, no, no.
SPEAKER_02: If you're a son, if you're a daughter, if you're a child of the living God, we come into the light, we acknowledge our sin, and God our Father readily, abundantly, lavishly covers our sin and welcomes us back.
SPEAKER_02: We have a different level of security.
SPEAKER_02: Thirdly, slaves and sons have different levels of intimacy.
SPEAKER_02: A slave addresses the head of the house as master, but here Paul tells us that the child of God addresses his father, her father, as Abba.
SPEAKER_02: Abba father.
SPEAKER_02: Do you see that?
SPEAKER_02: The spirit of adoption of sons by whom we cry, Abba Father.
SPEAKER_02: You know what the word Abba is?
SPEAKER_02: It's not a 70 70s band from Sweden.
SPEAKER_02: It's the word that a small child uses for their dad in the ancient world.
SPEAKER_02: It's not quite as familiar as daddy, but it's going in that direction.
SPEAKER_02: It has that sort of sense.
SPEAKER_02: It's that sort of level of affection, of intimacy, of proximity to.
SPEAKER_02: A slave in an ancient household cannot wake up the master of the house in the middle of the night and say, Can I have a glass of water?
SPEAKER_02: But the child can.
SPEAKER_02: The child can walk into the father's room at all hours of the day and night.
SPEAKER_02: I I can attest to this.
SPEAKER_02: And say, How do you get on kids YouTube?
SPEAKER_02: No.
SPEAKER_02: And say, Can I have a glass of water?
SPEAKER_02: How are you relating to God?
SPEAKER_02: Do you see him as that as beardy sky master, thunderbolts in hand, ready to smite you for your failure, ready to wash you with shame and more guilt and rejection?
SPEAKER_02: Or do you run to him and say, Abba, I've messed up again.
SPEAKER_02: Please forgive me.
SPEAKER_02: Paul goes on to say that the Holy Spirit in verse 16 attests that we are children of God.
SPEAKER_02: Do you see the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God?
SPEAKER_02: That there's something that the Holy Spirit welds up within our hearts that enables us and causes us to cry Abba in those moments of struggle, in those moments when actually we're questioning whether or not following Jesus is worth it.
SPEAKER_02: Different levels of intimacy.
SPEAKER_02: Fourth contrast is that the slave and the son have different futures.
SPEAKER_02: They anticipate different things.
SPEAKER_02: You see, the slave can only hope for what his wages are, what he earns.
SPEAKER_02: The son, the daughter, the child is an heir to all that his father, her father has.
SPEAKER_02: He willingly gives it to his children.
SPEAKER_02: What are you anticipating in the in the future?
SPEAKER_02: Are you hoping just to kind of earn enough of God's favor so that you just kind of slip in under the radar of the kingdom?
SPEAKER_02: You know, like Indiana Jones is the great stone doors coming down.
SPEAKER_02: I'll just I'll just obey just enough just to kind of slide in before it gets slammed shutter.
SPEAKER_02: You're like, no, I'm a I'm a child of a living God.
SPEAKER_02: I am an I am an heir of God's kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: And that's not anything to do with me.
SPEAKER_02: That's not a that's not a prideful boast.
SPEAKER_02: It's I can barely believe it.
SPEAKER_02: That God would welcome me and that he would so lavishly and abundantly have set in store this future for me and say that I'm a co-heir with Christ.
SPEAKER_02: I haven't checked recently, but he's kind of better than I am.
SPEAKER_02: And yet, just as much as he is an heir, by grace he makes me, you, an heir with him.
SPEAKER_02: So which way do you relate to God?
SPEAKER_02: Are you still relating to God as a as a slave, as a hired hand?
SPEAKER_02: Or are you running into his arms as a child?
SPEAKER_02: You see, if you're a slave, when you come to that moment where you ask, is it worth it?
SPEAKER_02: you'll walk away.
SPEAKER_02: Do you know why?
SPEAKER_02: Because you'll think, well, I don't have the relationship with him that's necessary to keep me here.
SPEAKER_02: I only obey out of fear of rejection or to earn something.
SPEAKER_02: And and now I'm suffering and I don't have the assurance of this future inheritance, so so why stay?
SPEAKER_02: No, it's not worth it.
SPEAKER_02: But if you are a son, if you are a child, you say, yes, it's worth it because my father loves me.
SPEAKER_02: He sees me in what I'm experiencing right now.
SPEAKER_02: He will not abandon me.
SPEAKER_02: He welcomes me home and he is preparing a future for me.
SPEAKER_02: Is it worth it?
SPEAKER_02: Yes, because I'm a child.
SPEAKER_02: If you're still relating to God like a like a slave, that spirit of slavery.
SPEAKER_02: Can I encourage you that there is such abundant grace waiting for you?
SPEAKER_02: That just in the story of the prodigal, the father is looking for his children to come home to him.
SPEAKER_02: And you don't need to come back and negotiate to.
SPEAKER_02: Terms with them.
SPEAKER_02: You don't need to come back and go, well, look, the stuff that I did that's it's really bad, so I'll work this stuff off.
SPEAKER_02: I'll be a really good Christian.
SPEAKER_02: I'll try really hard.
SPEAKER_02: The father's not going to hear any of that.
SPEAKER_02: He's going to wrap his arms around you because he's a good father.
SPEAKER_02: He's going to clothe you in the best robe.
SPEAKER_02: He's going to put a ring on your finger, and there is going to be much rejoicing in heaven because you have come home to him and you are his child.
SPEAKER_02: He doesn't want more hired hands.
SPEAKER_02: He sent Jesus to adopt more children.
SPEAKER_02: Don't slip back into fear, therefore.
SPEAKER_02: Come back to him.
SPEAKER_02: Acknowledge your need of him.
SPEAKER_02: Run into his arms and let him bless you with all of the blessings of forgiveness and grace.
SPEAKER_02: Paul then goes on to deal with something very important.
SPEAKER_02: All this talk of the Spirit of God drawing us into intimacy with the Father that's beautiful and life-giving.
SPEAKER_02: Then the question really is: well, what about the fact that I suffer?
SPEAKER_02: What about the fact that this world is broken?
SPEAKER_02: What about the fact that this has happened to me and I bear this pain?
SPEAKER_02: We live in a world as Christians of what we call both the now and the not yet.
SPEAKER_02: Now Christ has forgiven our sins.
SPEAKER_02: Not yet are we freed from the presence of sin.
SPEAKER_02: That's Romans 6.
SPEAKER_02: Now Christ has been raised from the dead and promised a world without suffering and pain.
SPEAKER_02: Not yet has it been fully realized.
SPEAKER_02: And we kind of live in this overlap of these two ages where Christ has come and has promised his kingdom, and we experience glimpses of that now, but it hasn't fully come in power yet.
SPEAKER_02: People still die, we still grieve, we still sin, we still suffer.
SPEAKER_02: If anything in your life is going to cause you to ask, is it worth it?
SPEAKER_02: It's going to be the suffering that you face.
SPEAKER_02: The pain that you face internally?
SPEAKER_02: Perhaps because of the cost of following Jesus?
SPEAKER_02: Or simply of enduring in a world that's broken.
SPEAKER_02: And so Paul goes on in the rest of this section that we're looking at this week to address the question of suffering in particular.
SPEAKER_02: So again, we ask, is it worth it?
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
SPEAKER_02: First, because you're a son, not a slave.
SPEAKER_02: And the second reason today, there's only two, the second reason today is because suffering will inevitably give way to glory.
SPEAKER_02: Second reason why it's worth it?
SPEAKER_02: Because suffering gives way to glory.
SPEAKER_02: The slave and the son see suffering in different ways.
SPEAKER_02: The slave sees suffering as punishment, as evidence of God's displeasure.
SPEAKER_02: That he has a bad master.
SPEAKER_02: Child doesn't see suffering that way.
SPEAKER_02: A child, while for sure they do not like the pain inflicted upon them, at time or in time they they look back and see that that suffering was purposeful, that it was disciplining, that it was an evidence in and of itself of a father that loves enough to provide boundaries to help them grow into the person who reflects the Lord Jesus to the world.
SPEAKER_02: Paul pushes this idea further in verse 17.
SPEAKER_02: Have a look at it.
SPEAKER_02: And he says something odd.
SPEAKER_02: In verse 17, he says, and if children then heirs, that is, we inherit, heirs of God, fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him, that we may be glorified with him.
SPEAKER_02: Provided that we suffer with him.
SPEAKER_02: Why does he use the word provided?
SPEAKER_02: Does he mean that our sufferings earn God's glory?
SPEAKER_02: Do our sufferings earn our glorification?
SPEAKER_02: Well, no, of course not.
SPEAKER_02: That would fly in the face of everything that we've read in Romans up until now.
SPEAKER_02: So what is what is Paul saying?
SPEAKER_02: Think of it this way.
SPEAKER_02: Paul is saying that to suffer as a Christian is how the Christian bears the family resemblance.
SPEAKER_02: It's how you look like a follower of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: It's how you look like Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus, our brother, the one with whom we are co-heirs.
SPEAKER_02: How amazing is that?
SPEAKER_02: He suffered first, before entering into his glory.
SPEAKER_02: He suffered the shame and indignity of the cross before the glory of the resurrection and ascension, before his return to the right hand of the Father.
SPEAKER_02: And so when we suffer now in anticipation of future glory, we look like we resemble Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: We resemble him when we endure suffering now, secure in the knowledge that those who suffer, God will bring through to glory.
SPEAKER_02: Suffering now.
SPEAKER_02: Glory later.
SPEAKER_02: So friends, brothers, sisters, can I can I give you a word of caution?
SPEAKER_02: Just a quick flag just to raise.
SPEAKER_02: That given what Paul is saying here, provided we suffer, suffering now, glory later, it's all the way through the New Testament.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus says that in this world you will have trouble, but take heart, for I've overcome the world.
SPEAKER_02: Paul in Corinthians talks about it, talks about this light and momentary affliction will give way to a weight of glory.
SPEAKER_02: Suffering now, glory later.
SPEAKER_02: And so, friends, brothers, sisters, please beware.
SPEAKER_02: Beware of teachings and teachers that promise only victory now.
SPEAKER_02: Yes, there is a foretaste of the coming kingdom in our life.
SPEAKER_02: There is ways in which we make progress with sin and achieve those little victories on the field of battle, but to live a life that is only marked by victory and no suffering, that's foreign to the pages of the New Testament.
SPEAKER_02: That's not what the Bible teaches.
SPEAKER_02: Suffering now, glory later.
SPEAKER_02: Your life is not defined simply by victory in every aspect of your life now.
SPEAKER_02: No, no, no.
SPEAKER_02: It's defined by the cross of the Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: There were teachings and teachers that would steer you away from wanting to embrace suffering for the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Because in doing so, what they are doing is they are steering you away from the family resemblance.
SPEAKER_02: Suffering now.
SPEAKER_02: Glory later.
SPEAKER_02: But having told us that suffering is an inevitable part of the Christian experience, Paul immediately gives us, I think, one of the most glorious assurances in all of the New Testament.
SPEAKER_02: In verse 18.
SPEAKER_02: And you must see them as connected.
SPEAKER_02: They're broken up in many of our Bibles.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 18 seems to start a new section, but you have to see them as connected.
SPEAKER_02: Let me read them together so you get the connection, you see what Paul is saying there.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 17.
SPEAKER_02: Children, then heirs, heirs of God, fellow heirs with Christ, provided that we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
SPEAKER_02: For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
SPEAKER_02: Do you see what he's saying?
SPEAKER_02: Suffering now, and it pales into insignificance when set aside with the glory that awaits us.
SPEAKER_02: Suffering in this present age does not compare with the glory that God is preparing, storing up for us.
SPEAKER_02: I cannot, I cannot impress upon you more firmly how important this idea is for your maturing as a follower of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: If you want to grow as a follower of Jesus, this is a catalytic verse.
SPEAKER_02: This is pre-workout, high caffeinated, souped up spiritual juice for becoming a follower of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: I've taken pre-workout once, I did not enjoy it.
SPEAKER_02: The workout was very normal, but about two hours later, I'm sitting in my study clicking.
SPEAKER_02: But this supercharges our growth in godliness.
SPEAKER_02: It is saying that it is imperative that we set our life, our experiences, all pain, every tear, every loss, all grief, to set it in the context of the vastness of the eternal glory that awaits us.
SPEAKER_02: To set your suffering on one side of the scales, and to set the glory that God is going to reveal to you on the other side and experience and see the width of glory outweigh all of the sufferings that you experienced.
SPEAKER_02: If you can do that, man, if you can do that, if you can set what you're going through right now in this 70 years in the context of 70 trillion years, brother or sister, you have a permanent foothold through every experience of your life.
SPEAKER_02: If you can make that truth your meditation, then you have a motivation to put one foot in front of the other.
SPEAKER_02: Whatever you're going through, when everything around you seems to crumble, when you spend your nights crying yourself to sleep, set those tears in the context of the glory that your Father, who loves you, is storing up for you.
SPEAKER_02: If you settle that truth in your heart, then you become that house built on the rock that others, that loved ones, run to for shelter when the storms come and the waves of grief batter the sides of your little house.
SPEAKER_02: And you provide shelter and refuge and encouragement for all those around you.
SPEAKER_02: Because you know that one day the glory of the sun will shine again, and its brilliance will dazzle you like nothing ever before, and the storms will be a distant memory.
SPEAKER_02: You settle that truth in your heart.
SPEAKER_02: And every moment when you ask, is it worth it to come again to verse 18?
SPEAKER_02: And go, I don't, for I consider that the sufferings of this present age are not worth comparing with the glory that awaits us.
SPEAKER_02: So yes, yes, it is worth it.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna keep going.
SPEAKER_02: Folks, we need this.
SPEAKER_02: We need this, we need a clear vision for the future that God has set aside for us, that He is inviting us into idols.
SPEAKER_02: Cannot give you a future.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because they're all about the here and now.
SPEAKER_02: Money's about the here and now, career's about the here and nigh.
SPEAKER_02: Sex is about the most immediate here and now.
SPEAKER_02: But when they're gone, to what will you flee?
SPEAKER_02: When the money runs out, when the job's gone, when no one loves or desires you anymore, when the waves of grief threaten to capsize the little boat of your life.
SPEAKER_02: Paul bookends this whole section with the promise of future glory.
SPEAKER_02: He starts it in verse 17 that we suffer in order that we may be also glorified with him.
SPEAKER_02: And he ends the section, verse 30, that those whom he predestined he also called.
SPEAKER_02: Those whom he called, he also justified, and those whom he justified, he also glorified.
SPEAKER_02: Suffering lasts for a while.
SPEAKER_02: Glory lasts forever.
SPEAKER_02: The English Standard Version of the Bible in verse 18 says that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
SPEAKER_02: It's not completely clear whether that should be read as to us or in us.
SPEAKER_02: The NIV, the New International Version, puts it as in us.
SPEAKER_02: And I really like the idea of in us.
SPEAKER_02: Do you know why?
SPEAKER_02: Just think back to all the things that Paul's been saying about human beings, especially in the opening chapters of the book of Romans.
SPEAKER_02: We're glory stealers.
SPEAKER_02: We're glory rejectors.
SPEAKER_02: We're glory exchangers.
SPEAKER_02: We hate the glory of God by nature.
SPEAKER_02: We shy away from it.
SPEAKER_02: See what he's saying?
SPEAKER_02: God's going to reveal his glory in you.
SPEAKER_02: Through you.
SPEAKER_02: Despite all that you have done, despite all that you are and have.
SPEAKER_02: In us.
SPEAKER_02: Just notice the time.
SPEAKER_02: Let me very quickly try and end.
SPEAKER_02: In the rest of this section, Paul gives two brief reasons to why this glory will be worth it.
SPEAKER_02: The first is because, well, the creation longs for it.
SPEAKER_02: It groans for it.
SPEAKER_02: The cosmos is waiting for the day, Paul tells us, uh, when the children of God will step forth from the shadows into the light and step into their glory.
SPEAKER_02: Did you realize that?
SPEAKER_02: That they that the the pillars of creation that the Hubble telescope have seen, the crab nebula, every every molecule in the ocean, every speck of dust and sand, it's all waiting.
SPEAKER_02: Waiting for what?
SPEAKER_02: Waiting for you, child of God, to be seen in all of your glory.
SPEAKER_02: That was what was in God's mind even back in the garden.
SPEAKER_02: Let me deal with a uh with a little curiosity.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 20 the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself would be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
SPEAKER_02: Who subjected the creation to futility?
SPEAKER_02: It wasn't Adam.
SPEAKER_02: Adam had no idea beyond himself.
SPEAKER_02: He had no vision for the future, but God did.
SPEAKER_02: Why did God curse the cosmos?
SPEAKER_02: Paul tells us.
SPEAKER_02: Because of him who subjected it in hope.
SPEAKER_02: In hope.
SPEAKER_02: Hope for what?
SPEAKER_02: Hope for one day.
SPEAKER_02: The children of God would be revealed and the cosmos set free.
SPEAKER_02: Let me deal with one other thing.
SPEAKER_02: It's not just the creation that groans, we groan.
SPEAKER_02: That's what he says, verse 23.
SPEAKER_02: And not only the creation, but we ourselves, they're the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we eagerly await our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
SPEAKER_02: The Holy Spirit, when he comes into our life, creates in us a yearning, a longing that points us beyond this world, a longing for things to be better, for ourselves to be whole again, for the world to be to be right again.
SPEAKER_02: But Paul says something odd here.
SPEAKER_02: He says that we eagerly await for our adoption as sons.
SPEAKER_02: But hasn't he just said that in verse 15 that we have already received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry Abba Father?
SPEAKER_02: How are we to hold these two things in intention?
SPEAKER_02: What do they mean together?
SPEAKER_02: I think the idea is this.
SPEAKER_02: The idea is beautiful, I think.
SPEAKER_02: The legal papers are signed.
SPEAKER_02: The legal papers were signed at the cross of the Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: When your debt was paid, your sin cleansed, and you were brought into the family of God.
SPEAKER_02: The judge has given those papers his seal of approval.
SPEAKER_02: Nothing can change your legal standing before God, who is your father.
SPEAKER_02: We have been adopted by him.
SPEAKER_02: The papers have been signed.
SPEAKER_02: And Daddy's on his way.
SPEAKER_02: That's what I think Paul's saying in verse 23.
SPEAKER_02: The papers were signed at the courthouse, and Daddy's on his way.
SPEAKER_02: He's in the car.
SPEAKER_02: Abba's coming.
SPEAKER_02: He's coming to get us.
SPEAKER_02: He's coming to take us home.
SPEAKER_02: He's made everything ready.
SPEAKER_02: We cannot wait to start our new life with him.
SPEAKER_02: And so what do we do?
SPEAKER_02: We wait.
SPEAKER_02: We press our noses up to the glass of this reality and we look for his coming because we know that we're his.
SPEAKER_02: We have the the papers have been signed with the blood of the Lord Jesus, and Abba's on his way.
SPEAKER_02: Abba's coming.
SPEAKER_02: He's coming to take you home.
SPEAKER_02: Do you realize that?
SPEAKER_02: He's prepared a place for you.
SPEAKER_02: He loves you.
SPEAKER_02: He's on his way.
SPEAKER_02: He hasn't forgotten you.
SPEAKER_02: He sees you.
SPEAKER_02: He knows you.
SPEAKER_02: You're his forever.
SPEAKER_02: And so if you're asking, is it worth being a follower of Jesus?
SPEAKER_02: Man.
SPEAKER_02: And a follower of Jesus is simultaneously the most costly and most joy-giving and soul-satisfying thing.
SPEAKER_02: It is becoming fully human.
SPEAKER_02: It is living as we were made to live.
SPEAKER_02: If you're struggling and you feel like you want to let go, if you're asking, is it worth it?
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
SPEAKER_02: My dear brother, my dear sister, don't give up.
SPEAKER_02: Don't stop now.
SPEAKER_02: Abba loves you.
SPEAKER_02: He has made you his own.
SPEAKER_02: He sees you in your sufferings now.
SPEAKER_02: He is working in and through it.
SPEAKER_02: To bring you through to his glory like gold refined in the fire.
SPEAKER_02: Don't give up.
SPEAKER_02: Abba is on his way.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to this week's sermon.
SPEAKER_00: If you found this helpful or want to know more about City Church Dublin, please visit our website found in the link below.