I love reading the Bible. Anybody else love reading the Bible along with me? I'm so thankful I got introduced to the Bible as a child; I still love reading it to this very day. And something that I find endlessly fascinating is I'm reading this over here. And then I find out how it correlates to this passage of Scripture over here. And then, all of a sudden, both of these passages of Scripture are talking about what is happening in my life right now. And so, the way that the Bible, with cross references, the way that connects to my life, I find to be endlessly fascinating. And I can't wait to share with you how, what we're studying from Romans 8 is going to go along with what we're reading in the Psalms, which is going to go along with what's happening at our church right now. And so, I invite you to open the Bible and turn with me to Romans chapter 8, verses 18 to 25. That's our text. We have the great privilege right now of going through Romans 8, this epic chapter of encouragement. And we're going through this and we're at Romans 8:18-25. And out of respect for God's Word, I'm going to ask if we would all stand up for the public reading of Scripture. If you're watching this in Jerusalem, or Waikiki you stand up too; let's all stand up all around the world out of respect for God's Word. This is going to teach us to weigh in to think that we don't naturally learn how to think. And so we really need to hear what God has to say to us. So please follow along, as I read Romans 8:18-25. This is the Word of God.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 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. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. 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.
That's the reading of God's Word. Please go ahead and have your seat. And you can see right there in verse 18, he says, “For I consider”; now, this is the Greek word, logizomai. This is a way of thinking. So, Paul is going to give us in these verses, a way that Paul thinks and the way that Paul thinks here is an example of a mature way for all of us to think. Just go back to Romans, chapter 6, verse 11. This was the last time we saw this word about considering or thinking. Maybe you can remember, some of you who were here earlier this year, when we went through Romans 6, we got to verse 11, and it said, “so you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” So, hey, here's the new way you’ve got to think about yourself, you have now died with Christ. And when you got placed into Christ, you died with him, and you rose with him to walk in newness of life. So, you need to learn a new way to think about yourself, you need to think that you are now dead to the old life of sin, and you now are alive to God through Jesus, you're living out a whole new life. That was a way that some of us learned how to think, and it had a profound effect on our lives. So, if you go back to chapter 8, verse 18, now Paul is teaching us how he considers things. And here's what he considers that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. So, when you take life as we know it right here right now where there is suffering, and then you think of the glory that is yet to be revealed, what is yet to come, the glory of Jesus Christ being unveiled and all that comes with that, if you compare the glory that is coming with the suffering now, there's no even point in comparing those things like heaven, and all that we have with God in the future is going to be so much better than what we have right now, that you can't even really compare these things. Now, I have been a part of many conversations, some of them that have happened at this church, some of them with me and my brother is in my fellowship group that have happened recently, where we start comparing the things of this life to the next life. Have you ever been involved in any of these conversations?
One thing that I've heard my entire life is I don't like this idea that there's no marriage in heaven. Has anybody talked about this before? And what do you mean, people aren't getting married in heaven? What do you mean? I'm not still married to my spouse? And even what's going on with this? I like marriage, seems like a good thing. Why are they hating on marriage in heaven? Have you heard that conversation before? Well, recently, and I love my brothers, I'm not here to throw my brothers under the bus. But recently, we got into one of these kinds of conversations with me and some of my bros. And one of my dear friends was very concerned about the lack of pets in the New Jerusalem. He's a righteous man. He loves his pets. He prays for his pets. There's nothing wrong with that. I'm cool with loving your pets. But where are the pets? I'm not seeing trees. I'm not seeing parks, where would you even take your pet on a walk? We got it. This is a real conversation I've been a part of in my life. Okay. And we're trying to compare what we know here and now. And then we're trying to have compare that to the glory. Here's how Paul thinks. Paul thinks we've lost the plot in my fellowship group. That's why he thinks of those kinds of comparisons. They're not even worth doing. Because the glory that is yet to be revealed, is going to be so awesome, so epic, so far beyond anything you've ever seen or experienced right now. In fact, what is it? What's the word it used to describe right now? Suffering! What's the word he uses to describe the life of the age to come? Glory. They're not comparable. That's the idea. This is a way that we need to think and the way that this passage is going to teach us to think. Look at Romans 8:19. There's a key word that comes up three times in our text in verse 19. It says, “For the creation waits.” In fact, if you've got the handout in our bulletin, if you can pull that handout out, if you want to take some notes, and maybe you can just circle the word “waits” right there in verse 19. Or if you're writing down your own notes, we want to highlight that the word “waits” shows up three different times in our text. The creation is waiting in verse 19. And then in verse 23, it says, not only the creation, but we ourselves, we who have the Spirit, like we've been learning in Romans say, we have the first fruits of the Spirit. We groan inwardly, circle it, wait eagerly for adoption as sons. And then the last verse 25, the last verse of our texts today, it says, if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. So, what this text wants to teach us is that we should be thinking we are waiting for something that is so much better than what we have now. There's no point in even comparing. And so, we need to learn to think that the wait will be worth it.
If you're taking notes on the handout, let's get that down for point number one: Think the wait will be worth it. We're going to have to go through some sufferings in this life. But when we get to the life of the age to come, when the glory is fully revealed, wow, it will be so worth waiting for. Okay. Now when I have just revealed to you that the main word we're going to be discussing is “wait”. “Wait” is not usually our favorite word down here, right? A key word today is patience, everyone, and we all love patience. Right? Right. Right? Especially our kids love patience. Am I right about that? Right? So, waiting is something that we've got to really think through because it's not usually something we're naturally prone to? Why would I wait in a long line? The only reason I would keep staying in that line for a very long time, it's barely moving. Wow, look how long this line is? Well, the only reason I'm in that line is I have to believe that what I'm in line for is worth waiting for. And what this patch is a passage of scripture wants to prove to you is that the glory that is coming is worth the wait. And that's a way that you and I need to learn how to think. Now, look at Romans 8:20. Let's start getting into this. Well, actually, before we even move on in this text, who's been reading the Psalms? Has anybody been reading the Psalms with us? We're inviting everybody here to read the Psalms. And I'll tell you this was an amazing week for me because I'm studying Romans 8 about waiting, and then we've been reading in the Psalms like all these chapters about waiting on the Lord. And so, I’ve got to turn you back to the Psalms.
And go to Psalm 40:1 with me. Psalm 40 is where we left off. We're trying to read ten Psalms a week; the schedule is on the back of your handout and let me just show you some of the Psalms we've been reading. Maybe this will invite you to read through the Psalms with us, if you haven't been. And if you have been reading the Psalms, hopefully this will just help you to stay pumped up because he has been writing over and over in these chapters that he is waiting on the Lord. He is waiting for the Lord. He believes the Lord will come through; the Lord will be worth it.
These are Psalms of David, and he says here in Psalm 40:1, “I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry.” He's saying, hey, waiting on God actually works is what he's saying here and Psalm 40. He's pumped up about it. And if you read all through the Psalms, he keeps saying, wait on the Lord, I'm waiting on the Lord. Who else could I look to? My hope is in you. He's been saying this for chapters. And now here's a burst of praise. Hey, guess what happened? I waited on God. And guess what? He inclined his ear to me. He heard me. He answered me. Waiting on God is worth it. That's what he's saying here. And Psalm 40:1 is some of us might know this old jam. I waited. Anybody know this song? For the Lord on high, come on, where are you at? I waited, and he heard my cry. See, we can sing that song because the young people are gone this weekend. You know what I mean? That's an oldie but a goodie right there, right? That's what he's saying. Look at how pumped up he is here at the beginning of Psalm 40. “He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and he set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God, many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord.” When was the last time God came through? He answered your prayer. He did more than what you could ask or imagine. And you were singing without any band to back you up, right? There was no music, but you had a song in your heart. Because when you wait on God, you are never disappointed; those who put their hope in the Lord, they will not be put to shame. God will always come through for his people. Can I get an Amen from the congregation on this one?
Can you remember something you were waiting for? Or a time in your life where you weren't waiting for something? You were actually waiting for the Lord and the Lord came through and what he did, it was more than you could have even thought he was able to do. Or is there something you're waiting on right now for the Lord to come through? See, this is what the Scripture is saying to you. You’ve got to think that the wait is going to be worth it, that the Lord will hear you and answer you. And Psalm 46. You’ve got to pay attention to the order of the Psalms. Sometimes we act like the Psalms, they're all just independent Psalms. But no, if you study the order here, the reason he's so excited that he waited on the Lord and the Lord answered him, is for many Psalms, he's been crying out how he is waiting on the Lord. Look at Psalm 39:7, let's just work our way backward through some Psalms here. And he's having a hard time here. He's ready to say things he shouldn't say, because of all the evil around him. And he says in Psalm 39:7, “And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you.?” What am I waiting for? I'm waiting for you, Lord, I'm putting my hope in you. See, the problem some of us have is we're waiting for that next thing to happen in life. We're waiting for that day on the calendar. We're waiting for that check to clear, we're waiting for that person, and to get their act together. If you're waiting for persons, places, and things, you will always be disappointed. If you're waiting for the Lord, he will come through for you. And so, you've got to ask yourself, are you just waiting for life to happen, or are you waiting for God to give life? Those are two completely different things.
We think waiting is kind of this passive hanging around when something going to happen. Waiting is an active dependence that God will come through again, that's what waiting on the Lord is. I got all kinds of people disappointing me, David says, that's why I'm putting my hope in you. Look back at Psalm 38. Here's another one. Psalm 38. Look what he says in verse 15. “But for you, O Lord, do I wait; it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer.” I'm waiting on you, God, because I know you will hear my prayer and you will answer it. So, I'm going to keep looking to you. Go back to Psalm 37. What an epic Psalm this was. Look at verse 34 of Psalm 37. “Wait for the Lord and keep his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the land; you will look on when the wicked are cut off.” Hey, whatever happens, you’ve got to Keep waiting on the Lord, keep doing what God says. Because in the end, you're going to see God's people inherit the earth. The meek will inherit the earth, and all the wicked, in the end, they'll be judged for what they've done. But all who put their trust in the Lord, they will be rewarded with him forevermore. That's what he's saying here. Hey, you’ve got to wait for the Lord. Right now in your life, are you waiting for God to do something? What are you asking God to do? What prayer is he hearing from you, and you're saying, God, this can't happen unless you do it. And I'm waiting on you.
And turn with me to Psalm 27. This is one that has encouraged me so many times, I just have to share it with all of you. There have been many times in my life that I've been waiting on the Lord. And he has always comes through for me. And here in Psalm 27:13-14, this has encouraged me to keep trusting in the Lord in times where I was getting discouraged or depressed or losing heart. It says in Psalm 27:13, “I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord, in the land of the living, I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!” Now, whenever you see the word, LORD, here in our English Bible, and it's capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, that means it's God's name, YHWH. And that's how they translate your way into English is with all capital letters. But that's God's personal name. God is as a person, that you can wait for him, you can trust in him. And when you wait for your way, no matter what's happening with that other person, what's happening in that circumstance, what's happening in your bank account, when you wait on YHWH, your heart will take courage, you will find strength for your soul, your faith will continue. Because when you're waiting on the LORD, you're going to see his goodness, both in this life and wait till you see his glory in the age to come.
Many people will disappoint you in this life, but God will not be one of them. And everyone who waits on the Lord, they will not be disappointed. So, wait on the Lord, let your heart take courage. I say wait on the Lord. That's what we're learning. And I'll tell you what I'm waiting for right now. And I'm not waiting for this. I'm waiting for the Lord to do it in his perfect timing. But I put it on the front cover of the bulletin. That's the whole reason we took this cheesy picture right across the way in the building right there across the parking lot, is I'm waiting for a new auditorium. Anybody with me on that? I honestly am ready for a new auditorium. I'm looking forward to. I mean, if you were to come up to some of us who were here five years ago, and if you would have told us, hey, that space right across the parking lot is going to become available, and the owner’s going to offer it to you, we would have been like, yeah, right, man, that ain't got to happen, right? That's exactly what happened. Well, okay. Well, if you want to turn it into an auditorium, it's going to cost this much money. I mean, just a huge amount of money that we're going to need to raise here. If you were here last year at our church, do you remember that we came in front of the church, and he said, yeah, people have given a lot of money, but it's not enough to begin the construction. Then we came back the next week. And we were like, actually, people just gave enough so we can start the construction right now. Praise the Lord. Right? So, I mean, the Lord, he's the one who comes through, and right now we're waiting on the construction. We're waiting for things to come together. But we're waiting for the Lord to build his church. We're waiting for the Lord to exalt the name of Jesus here in the city of Huntington Beach. Can you imagine how depressing life would be if we were waiting for construction to finish? Right? If we were waiting for construction to be on time and on budget, that would not be a very encouraging existence. But when we wait for the Lord, see, it changes your perspective, completely? What is going on in your life right now? And are you just waiting for that thing to happen? Or are you waiting for God to come through? If you wait for the Lord, He will do it, you can actively trust in him.
Now go back because I just love how waiting in Romans 8, waiting in the Psalms, waiting here for our new auditorium, I love to see how that all comes together. But specifically, if you go back with me to Romans chapter 8, what it's teaching us to wait for here are things we cannot see. So, these are the things of eternity. These are the things of the life of the age to come.
So, you can see we got three more points there on your handout; we're going to learn to more specific things that we're told we can wait for, and then we're going to learn how to do our waiting. Okay, so the first one here is in verse 19. Two specific things that we're waiting for, and the first one has to do with creation. It says in Romans 8:19, “The creation waits with eager longing for the revealing and then, who does it say here, Everybody, the revealing of the who? “Sons of God.” Notice it does not say Son of God in the singular, it says, sons of God in the plural. Wow, I don't know if you've really thought that through; the creation is waiting for us. That's what it just said. And this picks up right where we left off. Go back to verse 17, because verse 17 said that we are children. We are children of God; we've been adopted as sons and daughters of our Father in heaven. And if we're children, then we're heirs. We're going to receive the inheritance, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. So, there is going to come the revelation of Jesus Christ, there is going to come a moment where the Father God will unveil his son Jesus in all of Jesus' glory, and Jesus will inherit all things. The day of Christ is coming, the day when Jesus will be exalted as the name that is above every name. Every knee will bow, every tongue will confess. But this passage is not just saying Jesus is going to be glorified. It’s saying that we will be glorified with Jesus, that's what the creation is waiting for. Look at even Romans 8:21, that creation, it's groaning, it's waiting to be set free from its bondage to corruption. And the creation wants to obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. So, it doesn't say the creation just wants to know the glory of God. It says the creation wants to know the glory of us, the children of
So, we found out if you were here last week that we've already been adopted as sons and daughters, and we already have the inheritance coming to us. It's like we're already seated in the heavens, we already have the riches of the fullness of grace in Jesus. But now it's saying, there's a part that we don't have yet. There's a part that is still to come, and that's when Jesus is glorified, we will be glorified with him, and even creation wants to share in that glory. So, look at verse 19. Again, let's think this through. The creation is waiting with eager longing. Look at Romans 8:20. The creation will, and this is referring to everything that God has made that doesn't have a soul, that's not a human being. So, we're thinking, the sun, the moon, stars, the skies, the seas, the land, the animals, the plants, the rocks, all these different things, the streams of water, all these things that God has made, it says the creation, verse 20, was subjected to futility. Not willingly, but because of him who subjected it. And then look at this in hope, verse 21, that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to… what does it say there everybody? Bondage to corruption. Do you realize that you have never experienced an uncorrupted moment in your entire life? You have never experienced something that is one hundred percent good. The entire world that we live in is a fallen world, we live on a corrupted planet; actually, the creation is under futility right now. The place you live is cursed, and it's cursed by God. And so, when you see a beautiful sunset, praise God there are still so many good things we can enjoy. Our families, that God gives us a place where we get to live, a place we get to go and explore and discover. And when you’re experiencing anything good about this planet, do you realize that even that moment that you're ready to say this was a good day, or this was a good moment, that even that moment is not really good?
There were only two chapters on this planet that were good. That's when God created everything, and God created us male and female in his image. And God created the man to leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two to become one flesh. And when God saw all that he made, he said it was good, and then Satan slithered on it. Go with me to Genesis chapter 3, and let's see how God cursed the ground that you and I walk on. This is Genesis chapter 3. Maybe you've been familiar with this story of the fall into sin, that Satan lies and deceives Eve, Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit. And then God shows up and he tells them what's going to happen here in Genesis 3. He speaks to the serpent. And who is Satan? He speaks to the woman Eve, and then he speaks to the man, Adam, and God says here are now the curses, the consequences of this fall into sin. And so first of all, I’ve got to read Genesis 3:15. This is what God says to Satan. God says, in Genesis 3:15, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” All right, so the seed of the woman, there is a prophecy that someday there would be born of a woman, someone who would be able to crush the head of Satan. And that is a prophecy. This is the first reference to the gospel, that Jesus, God's Son, will be born of a woman and he will die to save us from our sins. He will defeat the work of Satan once and for all. And so that's what he says to Satan. Then look what he says to Eve here in Genesis 3:16. “To the woman he said, ‘I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children.’” Would any mom like to say Amen at this point in the sermon, right? And then look what he says to Adam. And this is where we see what's now happened to creation. Genesis 3:17-18: “And to Adam he said, ‘Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, You shall not eat of it, cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life.” What does that mean? Verse 18, “thorns and thistles.” There's a good phrase that we should use more. Hey, look at that pretty flower. Don't touch it. It'll stab you with its thorns, right? Hey, look, let's try to grow these fruits and vegetables over here. What's with all these weeds and all these other things trying to grow up in here? Now let's see the very ground is not just producing beauty and life. No, now there's thorns and thistles, and Genesis 3:19, By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” For every day of your life, you've been living on a cursed planet. And you've been living in a body that is destined to die because the wages of sin is death. And so, the creation is actually groaning for the glory that is to come. Because the very things that God has made are tired of being subjected to futility and in bondage to corruption. So, whatever you have enjoyed in this life, it is a corrupted version of what God has prepared for us when his glory is revealed. That's why this comparison. You want to compare something that's been corrupted to something that's going to be perfect and pure. Why would you even compare those two things?
In fact, look at Romans chapter 8. Look what it says there in verse 22. You can see it on your handout, you can turn back to Romans. But this is the analogy of our planet right now in Romans 8:22. Going back to Eve and the consequence with Eve here, it says “For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.” Okay, so the world, as we know it today, is compared to a pregnant woman going through the pains of labor, groaning for something better that is yet to come. Look how Jesus says in John 16. Everybody, turn with me to John 16:21-22. Jesus uses this same pregnancy comparison to life here. And now, if you want to live in the here, and now that's like a woman saying, I'd rather be pregnant all of the time, right? I'd rather be in a condition where there's pain, and where I'm groaning and longing for something to happen in the future. And Jesus, he tells his disciples here in John that he's going to leave and his disciples are very sad to hear that Jesus is going to leave, that he promises them, the Holy Spirit is going to come and help them. And today is even the Sunday that we know of as the day of Pentecost, when we remember the Holy Spirit coming. But look at what Jesus says, like you guys are going to be sad that I'm gone. You're going to be sad in the here and now. But don't worry, someday you'll be with me again. This is John 16:21-22. “When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.” Jesus says, right now, it's like a woman being pregnant, there's going to be pain, there's going to be sorrow, there's going to be groaning. But someday, when you are with me, there will be pure joy. And nothing will ever interrupt that joy for all of eternity. I have known women who have been pregnant and had a difficult pregnancy. And then after their child was born, they had so much joy in the blessing of that child, that they were ready to be pregnant again. Have you noticed any of them? Have you met any of these ladies? You might be one of these ladies, right? Yeah, their kids’ ministry is testifying to that here this morning, right? Because the joy was worth the present suffering and pain. See, and you are living in a time of pain and sorrow and suffering. And I just want to really ask you to think if you think the way that Paul does in Romans 8, because I get a sense that people are trying desperately to hang on to this life. And I understand, we don't want to die, I understand that I would encourage everybody here to live as long as you possibly can. Okay, I understand that. But sometimes I'm concerned that we're not trying to just keep living, we're actually hanging on to this place. We're hanging on to what we can see, to what we can feel; we're hanging on to this current age right now. Like, I'm going to try to find life in this. That is the same as saying, I want to stay pregnant for the rest of my life. This is not the place to find life. This is a cursed place. I promise you that when you are in God's presence, and you get to see the glory of Jesus, and you get to participate in that glory, and you see God make the new creation, the new heavens and the new earth, you will never once ever think you want to come back to this place right here right now. Never once will you ever think this, you will be so happy to be there. It will be so beyond compare. It would be like somebody saying I wish we still watched black and white TV. Right? Right. It would be like somebody just going back to I wish we all had to go walk for miles and we had no other way. I wish there were no wheels. I wish it was just back in the day, right? No, you will never look back on this life as the good old days. The good days are the days to come. That's the truth. And if you're not thinking that way, this passage is meant to for you to consider life differently.
Go to Revelation 21. And let me give you a glimpse of what the creation is groaning for what the creation wants. Maybe you know that there's going to be a great judgment on this world. But God is going to do a new work of creation, a new work. Revelation 21:1-5 that we're going to get to see God do this epic work of the new heavens and the new earth. Look at what it says in Revelation 21:1-5, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem.” Can you look at this? Here's a city coming down out of heaven, a city descending from the sky. And the city is beautiful. It's “coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’” Would you like to live in a place where nobody ever dies? Would you like to live in a place where nobody ever feels bad? And not only does this future glorified place of the new heavens and the new earth and this amazing city, the New Jerusalem, not only does it not have the bad things, the sufferings that we're currently experiencing. See, there's a way to think about God that you've never really learned to think. It's like, what is my distance to God right now? Because you just think of God as being like, maybe you think he's with you in a spiritual sense. His Spirit is in you. These are things we've learned and talked about, but you don't think like, where's God on my maps app right now? Where's God on my GPS? Like, how long would did take me to drive or fly or get on a boat and go to where God is right now? Do you realize that in the New Jerusalem, a city that is so big, it goes from here to Texas? And not only does it go from here to Texas, but it goes that high up in the sky? Do you realize that when you live in the city of the New Jerusalem, it will be the best city you've ever been in, you can compare it to your favorite place to go right now. Because that city will have something that no city on this planet has right now; that city will have the glorious presence of God. And you would be able to wake up in that city and say, I want to go into God's presence right now. I want to go see the splendor of his Holiness, I want to go behold the radiance of his Majesty, I want to go again and be so blown away by the awesomeness of my God, that I fall on my face in awe and wonder, overwhelmed with pure worship for who he really is, you've never had that experience before. And that will be what you can have endlessly for all of eternity.
See, the new creation is not even worth comparing to the futile corrupt life that we are living on this planet right now. Point number two, let's get it down like this: you want to wait and see creation made new. Point number two, wait and see creation made new. This is something that creation itself is groaning for. And this is something you should be waiting for. But patiently looking forward to anticipating, expecting, I can't wait to see what God is going to make in the new heavens and the new earth that no death, that no pain, that glory of God, that sounds like I can't even compare that to what we have here right now. The creation, even the inhuman things that God has made, the creation can't wait to see the glory of God. And then look at Romans 8:23. If you go back to Romans 8, verse 23, now it's like the creation wants to get what we're going to get is the idea. What is this fullness of the adoption that we're going to experience in verse 23? It says not only this creation, but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit. If you're wanting to God save people, this is what we've been learning about in Romans 8 that we're no longer of the flesh, but of the Spirit. And even though our body is going to die, the Spirit will give life to our body. And right now, we can put to death the deeds of the body, the old evil things that rise up, these evil desires within us. We can put them all away, we can put them all to death. And so, if you've got the first fruits of the Spirit, we also then groan inwardly, as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, of the redemption of our bodies. Not only is there going to be a new creation, but you are going to get a new body. That's what it promises. The promise of Scripture is that you will experience a physical resurrection, and you will be given a body that is perfect and no longer susceptible to death or pain or sickness anymore.
In fact, look back at Romans 8:11, where it already promised us this because of God's Spirit in us. God's Spirit, he's like the down payment. He's like the seal. He's the guarantee. If you have God's Spirit now, today, then this is what's going to happen to you. This is for sure going to happen because you've already got the Spirit, verse 11, “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” So I’ve got bad news, everybody, your body is going to keep getting progressively worse from today forward. Okay. That's the facts. Okay? Some of you know more about this kind of pain and discomfort than some of us know. Some of you are living in chronic pain and discomfort. Some of us experience it from time to time. But see, we have this idea, and we need to learn how to think a new way. We have this idea that my body is supposed to work, and it's supposed to work perfectly. And when my body is not working perfectly, it's like something is wrong. No, your body is fundamentally wrong. Your body is not going to keep working. Your body is going to die. Your heart will stop beating, give everybody here enough time and everybody in this room will be dead. That is what is going to happen, and all that pain that we experience, it's not like something is wrong. No, it's saying the whole world we live in is wrong. Yes. Something is wrong. That groaning though, it's not like I'm supposed to be frustrated. Why isn't my body working right here right now? That groaning is supposed to make me think, oh, I'm really looking forward to getting a new body. I'm really waiting for the day when I get glorified with Jesus. All I'm really waiting for the day, not only when there won't be pain, or sickness, but my body will work, and I'll have strength and energy, but I'm looking forward to the day when I get to see Jesus, and I'm glorified as he is glorified, and I’m made like him.
And do you know what the best thing about your new body is going to be? There will be no inclination to sin anywhere within you. You will never want to sin again, there will be no temptation that will rise up, there will be no more deeds of the body that you have to put to death because you'll have a new body that has no sin; no evil around you, no sin within you, just you worshiping Jesus in pure holy splendor forevermore. That's what's going to happen in your new body. And we're down here being like, why doesn't my body work? Your body right here, that groaning is a friendly reminder, your body is not going to work down here. That's not how it's going to work out. Your body is going to go through pain, you are going to experience physical suffering. And that groaning, when you feel that that should get you to think, oh, man, I can't wait till I get a new one of these. How nice that's going to be. how much I'm waiting for that day. Oh, it's going to be so worth it when I get a new body. We said this a few weeks ago, that you could tell your doctor when your doctor gives you that diagnosis about how your body's not working. Tell your doctor, hey, don't worry about it. I'm gonna get a new one someday. It'll be great. And somebody from our church actually went in said that to one of their nurses, and the nurse was looking at him like, where do you come from? You know, Mr. New Body over here. Oh, I come from Compass Bible Church, Huntington Beach, that’s where I'm from. Right? We believe a new physical body will be given to us someday. Can I get an Amen from anybody on that?
And so if you're going through pain right now, hey, I want to pray for you. I'd like to see God give you relief from your pain, but that groaning that you're feeling, that's not for you to be frustrated with how things are right now. That's for you to look forward to how great things are going to be in the future when you will never feel that way. Again, go over to 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 17, and let me show you in 2 Corinthians chapters 4 and 5, hear how he, Paul, is going to teach the Corinthian church, this same exact thing that he's teaching the Roman church. And so, look at 2 Corinthians 4:17. And then we'll go right into chapter 5 and see how he's teaching. This is a way that Paul thought we all need to be taught to learn how to think, a new way to learn how to think that, hey, what the glory to come. You can't even compare what we have now to what is yet to come. And so, this is 2 Corinthians chapter 4, starting in verse 17. “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.” Now, you may not feel like the affliction, the suffering that you're experiencing right now, it may not feel light to you. And it may not feel momentary to you. But if we were to try to even compare it to the eternal heaviness of the glory that we're going to experience, which it goes on to say is beyond comparison; you can't really compare the glory to now. But if we were to compare the glory to now, what you're going through now is very light and very quick, compared to how awesome and heavy the glory is going to be for all of eternity. That's the way we're supposed to think. And in fact, we're supposed to look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen, for the things that are seen are transient, the things that are seen, they’re passing through, they’re passing away, they're here today and gone tomorrow. Don't be deceived by what you can see. It's not as sure as what you can't see, because the things that are unseen are eternal.
2 Corinthians 5:1-5: “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on[a] we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.” This body that you're living in right now is a tent. It is temporary. Maybe you like camping. We're not supposed to be camping forever. That's the idea. You are in a tent right now. And when your tent groans, you don't need to get focused on the here and now and get frustrated and let yourself become grumpy and let that fit of anger rise up within you when your tent right now is groaning. Remember that when we die in Christ, we do not stay dead, but we are swallowed up by life. And we will all rise with Jesus, and we will get the same resurrection glorified body that Jesus has; one of those is what you are waiting for right now. It's a tent, waiting to see what God's got for you for all of eternity.
Point number three, let's get it down like this: Wait and see the new you. Wait and see the new you. We got a new creation, then where God is going to make all things new. And then we got a new you where you will have a new body, there will be no pain in your body, there will be no death in your body, there will be no sin in your body. This tent is going to groan. Let those groans remind you what you're waiting for, and look forward to it with patience, with perseverance. That's how we're supposed to think. And again, I would encourage you to live in this body as long as God allows you live as many days as God blesses with. Enjoy all the days that God gives you here on this planet. But I’ve got to ask you, if someone were to tell you that your body's going to stop working, and you're going to die, would you just have fear and terror, or would you have joy because you know what you're waiting for? This is the way we're supposed to think. When you hear that a believer dies, you should both be sad that you will miss that brother or sister and you should rejoice because to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. And it is going to be so much better to be with the Lord than to be in this skin that we're in right now. So that pain, that discomfort next time you're like, ah, I'm not feeling good in my body. Yeah, that's the groaning. And that groaning is supposed to remind us of what we are waiting for. We are waiting for a glory to be revealed. The creation will not be comparable to what we know now. Our body will not be comparable to what we know now.
And so how should we wait for it? Go back to Romans chapter 8 and look at verses 24 and 25. We need to learn a new way to look at the world; we need to learn a new way to view this life. Look what it says here in Romans 8:24, “in this hope we were saved.” Okay, now we’ve got to really think about this. It's saying we were saved in the past tense. But then it goes on to say, “Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?” You can't say I hope it's a sunny day today when it's already sunny outside. That doesn't make sense. You can't say I hope it's something when it's already that thing. Okay, so look what it says in Romans 8:25. “If we hope for what we do not see, then we wait for it” and how does it say we wait for it, everybody? “With patience.”
Okay, so let me ask this question. Let's try to get everybody thinking. Are we already saved or are we not yet saved? What do we think? Yes, right. Okay, we are saved. That's what it said there in verse 24. In this hope we were saved, and we've been learning about this. Once you are in Christ, there is no condemnation. Once you are in Christ, there is no separation. Once you are in Jesus, no one can ever snatch you out of the Father's hand. Your soul is secure. God puts his Spirit and it bears witness with your spirit. You are a son or daughter; you have been adopted; you are getting an inheritance in heaven. That is all for sure. But there is a lot of our salvation that is not yet. And if you read theology, if you listen to Bible scholars, you will hear this comparison of the already but the not yet of our salvation. We are already saved, but there are many ways that we are not yet saved. And we are supposed to not just look back at how we have been saved. We are supposed to be also looking forward with hope, waiting with patience. I can't wait to see how God is going to save me! He has not yet saved me out of this corrupted planet. He has not yet saved me out of this dying body, and I still have not yet seen my savior, my Lord. I want to see Jesus in all of his glory. That will be the fullness of my salvation. And when I don't have a long distance by faith relationship with Jesus, but my faith is made sight, that will be the moment that I will really know the full joy of salvation when I am in the presence of my Lord Jesus Christ. And so, there's a not yet, since we are still hoping in things that we don't already have. And so, many of my Christian brothers and sisters, they only talk about salvation in a past tense, they're not really waiting for something more, something better, something not yet. And this is saying, we’ve got a lot to wait for. And we need to wait for it with patience. You need to make sure that you're not living for what you can see right here right now. You need to be living for the unseen, what we are waiting for. You need to believe in your soul that the best is still yet to come. And that's really what is driving you. I have known people that I thought they were my brother or sister in Christ, I thought we would be running together for Jesus forever, for the rest of this life. I thought I would see these people in heaven with me someday. And we would go into the very presence of God and worship him together. And I have seen people fall away from faith. And the number one thing is I look back on people that I know and I loved and they stopped believing in Jesus, all of them traded what could not be seen for what they could see right now. You cannot keep living your life for what you can see right now. Everything you can see right now is all going away, and the things that you cannot see, that's where you will really live for all of eternity.
And so we should be waiting for the unseen. We should be strongly thinking that it will be worth the wait. And so, I'm going to keep waiting till I get to see Jesus, I'm going to keep waiting till I get that new body. I'm going to keep waiting until I'm in a place that's the new heaven and the new earth and the New Jerusalem. And I'm not going to stop waiting. I'm going to wait with, it says patience here. You can also translate this word endurance or perseverance. I'm going to wait all the way till I see it. I'm going to keep having faith till my faith becomes sight. That's the idea here. Are you really in it all the way to the end? Do you believe that there is a not-yet part of your salvation, that you are putting your hope in, and you are waiting on God, and you know that God will not disappoint you in the end. If you are living for what you can see, the rest of your life will involve brutal disappointment. But if you are living for what you cannot see, all you have to look forward to is endless joy, that there will be no interruption of that joy. There will be no bad days, there will be no sinful choices. There will be no broken relationships, there will be no goodbyes. All of that is not yet. Are you waiting for it? See, I've had many great moments in my life. I've been very blessed by God. There have been many times that I was waiting. And God came through. I mean, I can remember the day that God saved me. I can remember the day that I was really concerned because I realized that I was a sinner who deserved to die and be judged in a place like hell, and I saw Jesus dying for me on that cross. I trusted in Jesus, that was a great day in my life. I can remember the day that I got married, I can remember the joy that I felt on that day. I can remember the day my first child was born, and how it was like God had given life to our family. I have been in the room when some people in this room when you put your faith in Jesus, I have been there when you were born again. I have seen God save people right here among us. I have seen many great things in my life. But nothing I have ever seen comes close to comparing to what is going to happen when I see Jesus for the first time. Do you realize that when you see Jesus for the first time, you will be glorified? You will be made like him. On the day that he is revealed. We will be glorified with him. And we will reign in a kingdom with him. We will have someone who we can see right there, a leader we can trust with our lives, a leader who does what is right, and who cares for his people. We won't be going to a worship service in the name of Jesus, we won't be going to gather with the people of Jesus; we will actually be going to where Jesus is. And he will know every one of us, every one of us by name. Every one of us! He will know that he paid the price for our sin. You have never experienced anything as good as the homecoming you will have in the presence of the Lord Jesus.
Go to 1 John chapter 3, verse 2. I want to end with this verse. And I want to actually ask our entire church to memorize this verse. We could all memorize this verse this week, because I think this really sums up this way we need to think that the wait is going to be worth it, and the best is not yet, and all the glory that's going to be revealed, not just the glory of Jesus, but glory for the creation, glory for us, as God's people, all of that. Here's a verse that I think will really help us learn how to think this way. And it says here in 1 John 3:2, “Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” Are we God's children? Now the answer to that question is Yes. Are we what we're going to be in the future? The answer to that is not yet. But when you see Jesus, you will be made like him, glorified, resurrected body, you will be made like and because you will see Jesus, for how he is.
Let's get this down for point number 4: Wait and you will see. Wait and you will see. We need to keep waiting until we see Jesus, we need to wait with patience, perseverance, endurance, don't get caught up in the things that you can see, don't get caught up in the brokenness of relationships, or the failing of your body, or financial challenges, all of those things will eventually go away. But the glory of Jesus Christ will last forever. And so, we want to take a moment to pray right now. And then we want to sing a song of worship that Jesus is the one worth waiting for, and we're going to wait for Jesus until we see him. Because when we see him, we will be made like him. Let me pray for us right now.
Father in heaven, I just pray for all my brothers and sisters here today, please make us a waiting church. Please make us a people who believe the best is yet to come, and that Jesus will be worth the wait. And father, we use this phrase all the time, I can't wait for this, or I couldn't wait for that. I pray that you would teach us a new way to think that we are waiting, we are all waiting with patience, we're going to keep waiting till we see Jesus, we're going to keep waiting till we get a new body, we're going to keep waiting till all things are made new. And when you have promised this to us, we're putting our hope in you, Father; we're putting our faith in what we cannot see. We're putting all of our trust in Jesus Christ. And I pray that we'll keep trusting in him until we see him. Father, thank you for saving us. Thank you for the work you've done. Thank you for the Spirit you've put within us, that the Spirit is a guarantee of all this, the Spirit is the promise. If we know we have the Spirit now, then we know that all of this is coming later. And so, I pray for everybody here, that they would honestly believe that the best is yet to come. And then it is not even worth comparing this life to the life of the age to come. Father, I pray that we would not want to hang on to this world. I pray that we would not want to hang on to this body. But we would be waiting for what you have in store. And so, Father, I just want to say on behalf of my brothers and sisters because we can come to you in the name of Jesus. Father, I will wait for you. Father, you've never let me down. You've never disappointed me. I've waited on you many times and you have come through every single one. And so, Father I'm going to wait for you, I'm going to wait for your Son Jesus until I see his glory. I will wait for you. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.