Crying, Groaning & Praying

Here, in fact, if I were to choose the most encouraging passages in all the word of God, this section of Romans 8, well really all of Romans 8, but this section in particular would be right at the top of the list. What encouragement you will find, I trust, from these words, crying, groaning, praying. The crying that's spoken of is actually a cry that we have to our father, a cry of loving affection and recognition that he is our father. The groaning is, yes, a very deep groaning of trouble, but also in hope that this trouble will pass someday, and the praying is actually something the Holy Spirit does for us in times when we don't even know how to pray. So some of the most encouraging thoughts and words in all the word of God find us, meet us in Romans chapter 8, verses 14 through 27. Just to back up and rewind for a moment, it's been a couple of weeks since we've been in Romans, and so I want to remind you that in chapter 8 we're really coming toward the end of a section in Romans where Paul's been talking about how to have victory over sin, how to know for sure that we can have power over the old sin nature which has been broken at the cross, but still can exercise and flex its muscle if we allow it to in our lives. And so he's telling us in Romans chapter 8 that it's the Holy Spirit's presence and power in our lives that gives us the power to overcome sin in our lives. That's what we saw in the first 13 verses. The Holy Spirit gives us a new freedom from the power, the dominion of sin over slavery to sin. He gives us the ability to have victory over sin. He gives us a new direction in life. He gives us a new obligation to say yes to him and no to the sin nature. He does all of that and on the tail end of that he does so many other things for us because we are in Christ and that's where we pick up in verse 14. Actually we stopped in the middle of a sentence three weeks ago. You shouldn't really do that, but we did. We ran out of time as we normally do. We probably will again this morning. So we're going to pick up right in the middle of a sentence and we will see that Paul is continuing the thought of all of the things that the Holy Spirit does for us as new believers in Christ. Or no matter how long you've been saved, these are fresh and new discoveries of all that the Holy Spirit has given us. So this morning, what I want us to do is to rejoice in the blessings that God makes ours through the Holy Spirit. That's what we want to see in this passage this morning. Let's just rejoice in the blessings that God makes ours through the Holy Spirit. Now you say, do I have the Holy Spirit? Is he with me? Just to remind you that if you know Christ is your Savior, the Holy Spirit lives with you. He maintains an abiding presence, the indwelling of the Spirit, the scriptures call it, an abiding presence with you. He's with you forever. And so you have the Holy Spirit. It's a matter of recognizing some of the things he provides for you and rejoicing in those and living in the light of those. That's what we're talking about this morning. What does the Holy Spirit make available to us? What blessings can we rejoice in that he makes possible? Well, Paul tells us first of all in verses 14 through 17, he gives us a new identity, a new identity actually tells us who we are in Christ. Look at verses 14 and 15 where he tells us we are given by the Holy Spirit and awareness of a new identity as sons, as sons, verse 14, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God, for you did not receive a Spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sunshed. And by him we cry, Abba, Father. Two times in these two verses he talks about being a son, having a Spirit of sunshed. The idea there is being adopted into the family. Now, I will develop that in just a moment, but first of all, let me call your attention to verse 14. This recognition that we are sons of God comes as a result of the leading of the Spirit. You see what he says there? Because those who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God. That is not talking about the guidance of the Spirit. This is not talking about Lord, please lead me today to know what decisions you would have me to make. I need leadership and guidance as to whether or not I should do this or that or go this place or that place. That is not the leading of the Spirit that is being talked about here. There is a very real sense in which the Spirit of God made prompt us and motivate us in certain directions, but that is not what is being spoken of here by the way of the leading of the Spirit. Because in the context Paul has already talked about this leading of the Spirit, the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life and mine as believers gives us a new direction in life. He motivates us to live a different kind of life. We have a new desire, new motivation, new inclinations in life. That comes as a part of being saved. If you know Christ as your Savior, the Holy Spirit motivates you with a desire to live a holy life, to live close to Christ. It is that kind of new direction in life that is being spoken of here by the leading of the Spirit. It is not like, well, if I am not sure I have a leading of the Spirit, then maybe I am not a son of God. That is not the issue here. The issue is, do you sense that new direction in your life, that new focus and desire and inclination toward God? That is part and parcel of salvation. That is part of the Holy Spirit being in you. Is that you have this new direction, new motivation, new inclination, new desire, new life. And that leading of the Spirit, that motivation, that new direction gives you the assurance that you are indeed a child of God or in this case, sons of God. And by the way, women, you are included in that term. It is the Greek term we ask and it literally means to be adopted into the family. Now while that may sound a little artificial, that someone may be adopted, adoption really is the most loving way to welcome children in your family. Adopted children are chosen because of love and affection to be in a family. When a child is born into your family, you can't really choose what you get. You just get what you get. They come into our homes because of love as well. Obviously, but adoption was a very familiar practice in the Roman world, where high ranking Roman officials who may not have children of their own would adopt, would legally adopt someone. And at the very moment of them coming into the family, they were made legal heirs of everything that that Roman citizen enjoyed. They were given freedom if they were a slave. If you have seen the movie, Ben Hurr, you remember maybe a scene in that movie where Ben Hurr, who was, you might remember that. Okay, if you have you do, okay, he was one of the slaves. He'd been sold into the slavery. He saves the life of the ship's captain. I tried to find a cliff of it this week. Nobody has been Hurr anymore. It's not in any places where you can rent movies or check them out of libraries or anything. I've got an old copy of it, but it's so beaten up, it wouldn't work on our equipment. But anyway, he saves the life of the ship's captain. And when they get back to Rome, the ship's captain has this lavish ceremony because he's a high-standing citizen of Rome, where he adopts him into his family. And he brings him into his family as a full legal heir. Everything he has now is entrusted because of love and affection to that former slave. And that's the picture here. We are adopted into the family. We are made sons of God because God has lavished his love on us. And he now entrusts to us everything that belongs to him. And the Holy Spirit motivates us to a new direction as sons of God. And for those of us who have that new motivation, that new life, we're adopted into the family. That's a sign that we are, a son of God. And we don't have a spirit that creates fear anymore. We have a spirit of sonship, a spirit that makes us aware of our relationship to God so that Paul says, our loving response to that recognition that we've been adopted into God's family. That our loving response is to cry out, to cry, in to verse 15. And by him we cry, Abba. Abba. Father. Abba is an Aramaic word. It's not a Hebrew word from the Old Testament, not a Greek word from the New Testament. It's a word taken from the language that most Jewish people spoke in the first century, kind of a hybrid form of the old Hebrew, Aramaic was the Linga Francois of the Jewish world in that day. It was the spoken language, the accepted language of the Jewish world in Jesus' day. And Abba is a term for father, a term by the way which most religious Jews would not use because they thought it was made God too familiar. Abba, the Hebrew word father, Abba. Dear father, my father. It really is the equivalent of the most intimate forms of calling our fathers, our fathers that we can have. It's really equivalent to daddy, papa. Or whatever affectionate term you may use in your family. It really is that kind of close relationship with a father. And the Holy Spirit makes us aware of such a unique relationship with God that we cry out to him with a term of environment. Daddy, papa. Now please, I recognize where to have a certain balance to that with a reverence for God who is an Almighty Creator and the sovereign of the universe. There is that balance in Scripture. But the part of that balance is that we are endeared to him and we should draw close to him as our daddy, our papa, the one that is dear to us because we are now in his family. And there's that relationship of trust, that close endearing relationship which causes us to cry out in love. Daddy, papa, father, dear father. So the Holy Spirit gives us this new identity as the sons of God. But not only that, we also have an identity as the children of God. You see it there in verse 16, the word has changed here. The Spirit himself testifies with our Spirit that we are God's children. Now this is different from adopted son. Different word. It's the word techno which is a child, a born one, one who is born into the family. An adopted child is brought into the family by a choice of love. A techno, a child is born into the family and receives the very nature of his or her parents. Both of those things happen when you come into the family of God. You know in the human family only one of them can happen. You're either adopted or you're born naturally into the family. In God's family both of them happen. You are chosen by an act of love on part of the heavenly Father and you are also born into the family and you receive his nature. Peter says, second Peter chapter one, that we are partakers of the divine nature. We receive a new identity as the children of God. Now this is not some kind of spectacular emotional experience when the Holy Spirit testifies to our Spirit, makes us aware in our Spirit that we are born ones that we have the nature of God that we belong in His family. It's not some kind of spectacular emotional experience. It's a recognition that is just as natural as a child recognizing his or her parents. Now if you work in the nursery, you have the wonderful experience of witnessing that when parents come pick up their children, right? Isn't that a great time? I mean for other reasons could be a great time to have the parents come and pick up the children, but for this reason also that you get to witness something very beautiful and occasionally my wife will tell me about things that happen in the nursery when a parent comes. Parents will be coming and children will be engaged in other activities and so forth and then all of a sudden they recognize that's daddy, that's mama and their face lights up and their arms go out and there's a recognition there that is instinctive, it is natural and that's what the Holy Spirit does for us. As God's children he gives us a recognition that we belong in the family and that's a very natural recognition that you know who your father is, you know who your family is. That is a very natural recognition and I believe that it's there it's part of the witness of the Holy Spirit in our own hearts and our own nature that we recognize who our family is and when you disobey God and you drift away from Him the Holy Spirit twists conviction in your heart and you realize you're out of sorts with your father and there's a breach of fellowship and it's an uncomfortable place to be and part of that relationship, part of that sonship that child father relationship is knowing when you're out of sorts with God you're out of the way you're not where you should be and there's a pull and a tug in your heart to get back if you don't have that if there's no sense of that if you can just walk away from God and turn your back and never come back and never feel that sense that tug that pull back to your family and I wonder if you are in the family. One of the evidences this is called the testimony by the reformers the witness of the Spirit. One of the one of the evidences that you really are a child of God is this inner witness that the Holy Spirit bears that causes you to realize my comfort zone is in my family I recognize who my family is I recognize my father God is my father I was born into his family I share his nature I recognize him as my father and that's part of the work of the Holy Spirit he gives us this new identity as children of the father but because of that he also gives us a new identity as he hears for 17 now if we are children then we are heirs heirs of God and co heirs with Christ oh there's so much in there we inherit everything that God has for us and by the way that inheritance is in heaven it's not here it's in heaven Peter tells us that in 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 4 when he says we've been brought into a living hope verse 3 and he says into an inheritance that can never perish spoil or fade kept in heaven for you that's when we come in to the inheritance is when we get to heaven we inherit all that God has been storing up for us and all the blessings that we have we get a foretaste of that now later in the passage we'll find that it's called the first fruits of the Spirit we get a little bit of it now we get a little bit of the first fruits but the whole harvest the whole hope the whole the whole inheritance awaits until heaven so we inherit everything that God has in store for us and we are co heirs with Christ Christ the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15 we'll inherit the kingdom from the Father he receives the kingdom from the Father and so we are co heirs with him ruling with him in the kingdom that he will set up on this earth so we inherit with him the things the Father is prepared both for Christ and for us what an inheritance we have he says if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory I'll be careful with that it's not saying well I don't suffer enough so I guess I don't get the inheritance right no no remember this flow of thought in the context always in chapter 6 every believer does share in Christ's sufferings you are united with him in his suffering because you died with Christ you're buried with him you're raised to walk with him Paul's already talked about every true believer does share in the sufferings of Christ in the sense that you're united with him by faith in his death you suffered with him you died with him and now you will share in his glory that's talking about our position in Christ so we have this new position as heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ that's a part of our new identity and an amazing winner a very wealthy person dies how many people rush to claim inheritance rights and somebody will try to find some legal way to get in on the will or the inheritance or make sure they get their piece of the pie if you know Christ as your Savior you're already an heir of the greatest inheritance that's ever been in existence and the Holy Spirit part of his responsibility part of his ministry to you and me is to make us aware inwardly that we are chosen loving loved adopted sons of God we are naturally born children of God sharing his nature and that's our families where we belong he's our father and because of that he's entrusted to us a great inheritance a new identity are you struggling to find who you are a lot of people do that in life you know a lot of people trying to figure out who they are what their identity is they tell me that's what midlife crisis is all about I'm still waiting for one I think that means I haven't hit midlife yet you reckon a lot of people try to figure out who they are and they and a lot of folks try to find it in the wrong places trying to find out who they are here as a believer your identity is wrapped up in Jesus Christ you are a son of God even if you're a woman an adopted son of God you are a child of God born into his family because of that you have an inheritance awaiting you of everything he's stored up for you in heaven that's who you are son of God child of God an heir of God try finding your identity there and you won't have identity crisis the Holy Spirit gives us a new identity but he also gives us a new hope a new hope I want you to get this I want you to hear this these to me are some of the most precious verses in the Bible I come back to these over and over again because they tell us of a hope that we have a hope the Spirit of God gives us a new hope now what is it we'll look at the principle of hope that Paul explains in verse 18 the principle of hope I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us I really want you to see this I really want the Spirit of God to make it real to us so I'm not going to glide over this let's let's dive into this a little bit let's let it sink into us and let's sink into the the blessedness of these truths Paul says I consider this that means I've thought long and hard about this it's not just a passing thought I've weighed all the evidence I've thought about all the sufferings and I've thought about the glory in the future and I've put them on the scales and I've really weighed them out I've made a list I've carefully researched this I've gone through a process of reasoning I've thought this through carefully I've weighed the evidence and as a result I make this conclusion this judgment after that careful process of reasoning that's all in the word consider it's what he means by consider and what he's done he's he's considered on the one hand our present sufferings on the other our future glory the glory that will be revealed in us this is not just seeing the glories of heaven and of the city and and all of that that's wonderful but he's talking about the glory that we revealed in us it's not just seeing the glory of God in Christ that's wonderful but it's the glory that will be revealed in us it's having a glorified body it's inheriting all that God has for us and being in a place where a new incorruptible body a glorified body will exist in heaven it's comparing all the present suffering with a time when we will be in glory that's what he's weighed out and listen Paul knew something about suffering Paul's not saying you know I know I was like to heard a little bit of Brook Motto one time and no he's not no Paul knows what suffering is about please don't miss this please what please understand what he has weighed in the scales and compared to the glory and just so that we get a glimpse of what was then Paul's mind when he wrote this what must have flashed through his mind when he thought about the glory and when he thought about the suffering our present sufferings let's let him tell us in his own words what must have flashed through his mind in 2nd Corinthians chapter 6 he describes some of his suffering rather as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way and notice these next words in great endurance in troubles hardships and distresses in beatings imprisonments and riots there were several riots where Paul was lost his life in hard work sleepless nights and hunger and he goes into even more detail in chapter 11 it's a little bit of a long passage but I wanted you to really see it comparing to false apostles and he really struggles to compare himself and do that in the book of Corinthians but it's for the sake of saving the gospel in that city he says are they servants of Christ how do my mind to talk like this but I am more I am more and he gives his credentials have they served Christ so let me say where I've served Christ he says I've worked much harder been in prison more frequently been flogged more severely and been exposed to death again and again because on to describe five times I received from the Jews 40 lashes minus one if you watch the Passion of Christ the 40 lashes is the beating on the back that Christ endured before the crucifixion it was intended to so severely inflict pain upon a person they would be close to death with that cat a nine tales that Roman instrument of torture with the nine strands on it that had pieces of rocker glass on the end and would rip into the back to the bone of a person Paul went through that five times okay he knows what it's like to suffer five times I went through that three times I was beaten with rods once I was stoned the book of Acts talks about it taken outside I believe it was in the city of Lystra first missionary journey he was taken outside the city stone and left to die three times I was shipwrecked I spent a night and a day in the open sea I've been constantly on the move sometimes you had to run from cities for his life you had to leave ministries because of imminent death I mean he knew what it was to be on the run he says I've been in danger from rivers and danger from bandits and danger from my own countrymen and danger from Gentiles in danger in the city and danger in the country and danger at sea and in danger from false brothers you get the impressions no place Paul could safely lay his head I've labored and toiled and I've often gone without sleep I've known hunger and thirst and I've often gone without food I've been cold and naked besides everything else I mean could there be anything else Paul besides everything else I faced daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches that weighed on him the concern for those fledgling little churches he'd started spread across the Roman Empire and the attacks they were facing the troubles they were having that burdening every day Paul knew what suffering was and he said I've put all that on one side of the scales all of that on one side of the scales and I've done this process of reasoning this out and considering this and I have found they don't even tip the scales they don't even cause them to fall an ounce a bit compared to the glory that will be revealed in us now that's the principle that's the principle of hope you see in the Bible when Paul talks about hope and he's going to talk about it a lot in this passage when he talks about hope he's talking about what we look forward to in the future what has been promised to us by our God what we know we will receive in heaven that's our hope and Paul says when I weigh all of the sufferings of this life and he went through a ton of them against the hope of the glory that will be revealed in us there's no measurement at all on this side of the suffering side the glory so outweighs it now he applies that in a couple of directions I don't want you to miss this first of all he talks about the hope of creation the hope for creation there is this kind of hope of being delivered from pain and suffering even on the part of creation he describes it beginning in verse 19 he says the creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed what does it mean the sons of God to be revealed well go back to verse 18 he's talking about what will be revealed in the sons of God when we are fully revealed as the sons of God when the whole process of salvation is complete and that's when we get to heaven and get our glorified bodies that's when we are fully revealed as the sons of God and the whole creation is waiting eagerly for that the word is such a strong word it means to be bending forward craning the neck stretching forward creation itself I'm talking about animals plants rocks mountains rivers there is a sense in which all of creation is straining forward eagerly expecting that time when we will be in glory because when that happens creation will be changed as well but I'm getting ahead of myself look at how Paul describes it verse 20 for the creation was subjected to frustration in other words there there was a period in time when the creation was put into a kind of existence where it was frustrated how can creation be frustrated when it does not fulfill its intended purpose when it does not work like it was created to work you know how long that's gone on since Adam sin and the curse the judgment that was placed on this earth and on mankind and on Satan too because of man sin please don't miss this this will help you to understand life from a totally different perspective creation has been groaning under this frustration knowing that it is not operating like God intended it to operate like he created it to operate it's frustrated because it's not doing what it was intended to do fully completely that's what he's talking about in verse 20 it was subjected to this frustration not by its own choice creation did not choose sin Adam did but by the will of the one who subjected it and commentators differ whether or not that's Adam or God probably talking about God here it is God who subjected the creation to this frustration by the curse it was brought about because of man sin but God's inevitable judgment because of man sin affected creation too but Paul will go on to say even though it's been affected in this way it's been subjected with the hope that it'll be released from that someday now we'll get back to that in a moment when we get to verses 23 and 24 but Paul is talking here about the fact that creation is in frustration it's subjected to this frustrating existence of not being able to do what it was intended to do you see when God created this world and placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden this whole earth was a paradise it was immensely productive there was perfect cooperation between man and the animal kingdom and plant life and all the elements that go into making up what we call weather and natural phenomena all of that was perfect and it was cooperating perfectly and that's the way it would have been but had to been for man sin but had to been for Adam sin but a part of the judgment because of man sin involved the animal kingdom the plant kingdom included in the curse were all the elements and creation became a sufferer creation became one that groans in frustration now because it is not working as it was intended to work in the creation it is subjected to this lack of vitality and frustrated in meeting its intended goal and there is proof all around us animals fighting one another for food fighting each other trying to eat each other for food that's a part of the curse it's seen all around us in nature nature convulses in this frustration you realize the reason for floods and hurricanes and drought and tornadoes and avalanches and earthquakes is not because God is throwing them at us it's all a part of this convulsing of nature and frustration because of the curse it's not the way God intended it to be God intended everything to work in harmony and cooperation and this is all a result of the curse plants are subject to the ravages of disease and insects and you have to do everything you can to just eat out a few tomatoes that's because of the curse not the way God intended the earth to be that's the frustration that the creation feels and it's just longing for the time when it will be delivered from that notice the end of verse 20 in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God when we have freedom from our sinful existence in this world limitations of our decaying and mortal bodies when we have the hope and glory and we're revealed as the sons of God creation will be delivered to and creation itself is eagerly awaiting that time verse 22 Paul says we know that the whole creation has been groaning in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time what an unusual but beautiful figure he uses there the pains of childbirth something that a mother goes through with the hope with the assurance that it will produce joy now when you're in the hospital what do you get pictures of that's what do you take pictures of you you take pictures after the birth of the baby resting in her mother's arms right I guarantee you you didn't take pictures of the labor if you did that's cause for divorce oh what a neat pain that is let's get a shot of that you know no no I mean that's the hard part the joy part the glorious part is the birth of the baby creation is groaning right now in labor pains it is convulsing in labor pains but there's coming a birth there's coming a time when creation will be released and delivered from the curse there's coming a time when in the millennial kingdom the Bible teaches us when Jesus comes to rule on this earth there will be a rejuvenation Jesus himself speaks of it in Matthew 1928 as a regeneration a regeneration of the earth one of only two times that words used in the Bible and it's talking about the earth not us the earth will be regenerated rejuvenated the earth will realize what it was intended to be it will harmonize and be all that God wants it to be there are descriptions of this in the Old Testament I say 11 is one of them look at these look at this description of what it's going to be like when Jesus sets the earth free from the curse I say it says the wolf will live with the lamb you talk about the animal kingdom being together in harmony again the wolf will live with the lamb the leopard will lie down with the goat and then you want to attack him and claw him and bite him and try to eat him no he'll lie down beside him imagine that the calf and the lion and the yearling together a lion laying down with a little calf and a little child will lead them little child be playing with lions and lepers and bears and it in that a cool picture because on to say the cow will feed with the bear their young will lie down together the lion will each straw like the ox there will be no carnivores anymore they won't be fighting each other to eat each other you know they'll be eating straw grass because the earth will be so productive their nature will be changed the infant he says will play near the hole of the cobra and the young child will put his hand in the vipers nest didn't that need you go I want to want to play today I'm going to go out reach down the cobra's nest pull out a snake and play have fun you'll be able to do that in millennium they will neither harm nor destroy on my holy mountain for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea what a great time that will be when all of creation will be delivered from the curse I used to play golf I think that's part of the curse is golf I used to play some golf but I found that it was arousing my sin nature so much that I decided it'd be better for me if I just watched golf so occasionally on Sunday afternoon I watched a little bit of golf and I have noticed on golf tournaments a great commercial it's a commercial that although I really hesitate to use commercials in messages and I do so with a great disclaimer this commercial pictures what I think it will be like in the millennium I'm going to show it to you okay it's only 30 seconds so let's watch it let's make sure the sound is up and we get the sound too when you're not worried about potential dangers the world can be a far less threatening place take the scary out of life with travelers insurance and see the world in a different light I'm not selling insurance this morning I apologize to any insurance ages you don't use that company I don't I'm not getting a kickback or anything like that but that to me pictures what it's going to be like I don't know if the murekat will actually jump off the giraffe into the water I'm not sure about that but but I think that's what it's going to look like where animals that normally would beat each other's throats are going to be drinking water beside each other that's what I say it tells us but not only animal kingdom the plant kingdom will be different too the Amos 9 Amos talks about that he says the days are coming to clear as the Lord when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by one treading grapes what he's saying there is that seasons of planting and harvesting will be back to back I mean what what he's saying is when somebody's reaping in a field the guy who's planting will be coming up behind him saying get busy man get on the thing because I'm planting I'm right behind you plant trying to dig furrow to plant again there'll be no need for the earth to be restored rejuvenated between harvesting and planting that's how productive the earth will be what an amazing time this will be when we are in glory and the earth has changed creation has changed and so there's hope for creation but please don't miss this there is the same hope for the believer same hope for the believer first 23 we're in the same situation Paul says not only sub in other words it's not only through a creation but he says but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the spirit now we've only just got a little foretaste of the full harvest that's coming just the first fruits I mean as good as it is now we just have a little bit of taste of what it's going to be like when when we are in a glorified body he says but we ourselves grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption of sons the redemption of our bodies you know what we're waiting for we're waiting for the redemption of our body now you were redeemed when you got saved you were bought with a price and you became the personal possession of our God but the process of redemption is not fully completed yet it won't be fully completed until you get your new body and you don't get your new body until you get to glory that's when we are the glory is revealed in us and our new bodies and so that's when the adoption of sons is fully complete that's when our redemption is fully complete and that's what he says we're waiting for we're waiting for that but look at verse 24 no no no let me let me stay in verse 23 for a moment not only so but we ourselves well the first fruits of the spirit's grown inwardly friends we're not there yet we don't have that perfect body yet we're not in heaven yet and so we do grown we grown here we grown just like creation convulsors with groans at times we convulse with groans we suffer physical infirmities these bodies are imperfect so much goes wrong with them we get diseases we have accidents that damage our bodies things happen to us physically that all are a part of living in a sin cursed world it's not because God's mad at you it's not because He's angry with you it's because we live in a world that is groaning because it's under the curse and we're groaning too we share in that groaning and it hurts sometimes we grown because of physical suffering we grown because of emotional suffering we grown because of spiritual suffering because we struggle with temptation and sin and there's this constant struggle and we fail at times and we don't want to do that it's back in Romans 7 we're Paul says I don't want to live that way we grown we grown with that failure because we're not yet in heaven we grown because of the pressure of human limitations we see possibilities before us that we can't seem quite to capture we can't seem to get it all together and get our lives really exactly like they should be you know what we're groaning for we're groaning for heaven that's what we're groaning for I don't know if you're like me but when it seems like I get one area of my life just exactly where I wanted I look over and there's something else it's popped its head up it's out of out of kilter start doing better physically and something else happens we're groaning for heaven constant struggle because gifted people are wasting their lives we face disappointments with each other sometimes we hurt each other we groan we groan we groan we face bereavement and sorrow and loss and we groan we groan deeply Jesus groans with you please see that when you groan it's not because God's hitting you with something throwing something at you it's a part of being in a sin cursed world God has simply promised I'm not going to protect you from everything that happens in a world that's convulsing because of the curse I'm not going to protect you from that but I am going to walk with you through it and most of all I'm going to give you a hope for heaven there's a passage in John chapter 11 that is so full of this so full of this when Jesus is at the tomb of Lazarus one of his best friends on earth and the Bible says Martha has come out and said if my brother if you had been here my brother wouldn't have died if you'd only done something if you'd only intervened you wouldn't have died Mary comes out and says if you'd only been here my brother wouldn't have died we wouldn't be experiencing this sorrow and Jesus standing at the graveside when he saw her weeping when he saw Mary weeping and the Jews also weeping which came with her notice what he did he groaned he groaned same thing Paul's talking about in Romans 8 he groaned he convulsed in spirit and was troubled what Jesus saw at that tomb was the result of the curse and he hates that it's why he was willing to die to deliver us from that and someday someday we will be delivered from all that but please notice how Paul says this in verse 24 he says in this hope we were saved when you were saved it was in this hope it was in the atmosphere of this hope part of salvation is knowing that it's not done yet the end of the story hasn't been written the final chapter the best chapter we haven't lived yet we're getting there it will be there in heaven but that's where it is notice he says but hope that his seed is no hope at all who hopes for what he already has but if we hope for what we do not yet have we wait for it patiently don't tell me that this is your best life now it isn't don't try to convince me that everything you'll ever have you can have here now it isn't if you do that you rob me of my hope don't tell me that I can be sinlessly perfect here yes the goal is to be like my father and we ought to all be striving for that but to tell me that somehow you can reach perfection here there's no hope left there's no hope left what the sorrows and groanings of life do for us is it causes us to focus on the fact that we live in a world that is wrapped by sin and we live as a consequence in this world in the groaning of all of the backwash of sin and what it brought into human experience and God is not up in heaven throwing those things at you to see how you react God is groaning with you he's weeping with you he himself groans because of what man's sin has done to wreck this world and directly human experience and it's why Jesus was willing to groan on the cross to deliver you in me from that and to give us a hope that someday it'll be different someday it will be different don't rob anyone of hope groaning is a part of our experience don't tell someone they just ought to get over it they've watched a loved one die don't tell someone they ought to just get over it no we will groan until we see heaven our best life is not here it's there yeah groan with them like Jesus did weep and cry with them like Jesus did we've helped them see like Paul said we've got our best life coming and there'll be a day when we don't groan anymore we'll all be together in heaven we'll be in glorified bodies we'll inherit everything God's prepared for us that is our hope and if I didn't have that I wouldn't get up some mornings and neither would you but if you have that as Paul says somehow we can learn we can grow to learn to patiently wait for that and that's the most serious challenge we face sometimes how do I patiently wait for that that's our hope that's our hope