What Are You Groaning For?

Well, good morning, CrossPoint campus. I'm excited to be here with you this morning. We're gonna be continuing in our sermon series called The Resurrected Life as we've been walking through Romans 8. So you can go ahead and turn to Romans 8. We're gonna be looking at verses 18-30 today. Romans 8:18-30. You know two of my spiritual heroes, two of my heroes of the faith are Adoniram Judson and his wife Ann Judson. Adoniram and Ann were called in the early 1800 to go to the country of Burma, called by God to go out to this country where there were no known believers. No access to the gospel, zilch, zero, none, absolutely no chance for them to hear the good news of Jesus Christ unless someone from outside the country who had the gospel was willing to go into the country and share the gospel. But it was a difficult job. It was a hard task. There were many things that stood against them, including just the journey out there itself. They didn't have planes, they didn't have our modern travel. They had to get on a boat and they had to sail across the world. They were at the mercy of the weather, which we know really means the mercy of God, right? But they had to face uncertainty, many uncertainties. They didn't really know what kind of hostility they might face when they arrived there. They really didn't know much of anything about how things would go, the way that things would shake out. They just knew that the Lord had called them to go and they knew that it would be hard. They knew that it would mean enduring much suffering. They didn't know what that suffering looked like. They didn't know what it meant exactly, but they knew that they would have to endure much suffering. And they did. They endured much suffering. They suffered by giving up the comforts of home, expecting to never see their families again, expecting to never come back to America again. They suffered by giving up the comforts of their home. They suffered with a lot of different sicknesses. They suffered the loss of children. Adoniram was put in prison and it was a terrible prison. They didn't even feed you in the prison. He was relying on his wife to bring food to him daily as he was in prison. Shortly after he was released, Ann died, as did their infant child. He faced bouts of depression, loss of friends, loss of a second wife. They called him a man who died a thousand deaths before he finally died his final death and went home to glory. And yet he stayed. He gave up his whole life and entered into the call of suffering that God placed on his life. And he lived with a profound joy through it all. He was able to hold onto the joy that he had in Christ despite all the things that he went through, because he was looking forward to the day when he would go to be with Christ and he would be made perfectly like Christ in all of his glory. He lived with joy through the hope of the glory that was to come, the glory of being fully redeemed. Up to this point in Romans 8, we've seen all these great things, right? We've seen Paul tell us about all these great things, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, life in the Spirit, sin paid for and forgiven, resurrection coming, sons of God, heirs with Christ. All of these wonderful spiritual blessings, but today, Paul stops and reflects on how the fullness of these things is still yet to come. We live in this age that many have called the already not yet, where we have already received the blessings of Christ, but we have not yet received them in full. And Paul reflects on how we are to live in this present age. An age where suffering still happens, an age where sometimes God calls us into things that will lead to suffering in our lives. Where sin and its effects are still present. How are we to live in this present age? Well, the answer that I want us to see today is that we are to live with our hearts set on the future glory that Christ has bought for us. We are to live with our heart set on the future glory that Christ has bought for us. So how do we do that? I wanna show you three ways today. First of all, we suffer in light of future glory. We suffer in light of future glory. Our verses today pick up from the idea of the previous verse that we ended with last week in verse 17. After all these wonderful things that Paul has talked about with the resurrected life, he says, "Now, if we are children, then we are heirs." Sounds good, right? "Heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ." And then he throws in, "If indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory." And he continues the thought here today in verse 18. He says that we can actually embrace the sufferings that we're called into in this life. In verse 18, he says, "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us." Now, you might be thinking, hold up now, suffering? Suffering? Why are we talking about suffering? What do you mean suffering? I thought Jesus was all about blessings, isn't he? How does suffering fit into the picture if Jesus is all about blessings? I thought Jesus came to end all suffering. And I thought I was supposed to live a nice comfortable life now. That's what many people believe. The truth is, yes, Jesus did come to put an end to all suffering, but not yet, not yet. The day has not come yet where he puts away all suffering. Where he puts away all of the effects of sin, all of the decay, all of the disease, all of the things he has not yet put them away in full. The sufferings that Paul is talking about here are sufferings that we can still expect in this life. And in fact, their sufferings that Jesus told us that we should expect if we're gonna follow after him. The sufferings that Paul is talking about here certainly include any kind of normal suffering that anyone may go through, sickness, pain, loss, whatever else it may be. But Paul's actually speaking a little bit more specifically here, Paul is actually speaking about suffering we go through specifically because we follow Jesus. Specifically, because we follow Jesus. Jesus said in in John 16:33, "In this world you will have trouble. But," he said, "take heart! For I have overcome the world." We will still have trouble in this world, but we can trust in Jesus through it. We can hold onto Jesus in his promises and we can live in joy through the hardships, through the sufferings. And what Paul is encouraging us to do here is actually to embrace the suffering that may come in this life due to following Jesus. We are to embrace the suffering. That doesn't mean we go out looking for suffering. That doesn't mean we go out trying to make it happen, but it means we embrace suffering in following Christ in that we expect it and that we accept it even beforehand. Even before it comes, we expect it and we accept it. Now, I know all of this probably sounds really strange to our ears, right? All of this sounds kind of strange to our ears. You know why? It's because the Christianity that Paul has is not 21st century popular American Christianity. It's not popular western Christianity that gets pumped out into the masses so often. And it's strange to our ears. There are so many pastors, there are so many false teachers that are out there today, and we have more access to them, or I should say they have more access to us than they ever have before because of the spread of social media, because of all the access that we have to hearing people. And there are many pastors and false teachers who will try to teach you the exact opposite of what Paul is speaking about here. They will try to teach you that all suffering should be gone, and that if you just have enough faith and you make a big enough donation, of course, if you just have enough faith, then all of your suffering should disappear. It will all go away. And some of them have the biggest churches and some of them have the most popularity and some of them have the biggest influence on millions of people through books and TV and social media and whatever else. And they will try to teach you what we call this prosperity gospel. The prosperity gospel. It's a false gospel that says that finances and health and all these things right here and now will fall into place. If you just have enough faith, then God will do it for you. It's a false gospel that says that God wants you to have your best life now. And it's not true. In fact, I would argue that the New Testament says the exact opposite that God did not send his one and only son so that you can have your best life now. If you are living your best life now, that means you are not a child of God because God has eternity for us of something much better than anything that we find in this life here and now. Our hope is not in what we can have now. Our hope is not in the things of this world. Our hope is in that one day we will go home to be with Jesus Christ and all things will be set right and all suffering will be gone and all the things that are wrong in this world will be made right. And we will be with Jesus for all of eternity and we will be made to be like him. Living our best life now is not a good thing 'cause right now we live in a fallen world. Right now, I mean, you could just look around and you can see, right? We live in a world that still has evil, a world that still has hardships. And if we are living in this fallen world and this is the best that God is going to give us, then it seems like we're missing something, right? That's not our goal is to live for the here and now. Here and now, we have about a hundred years at best, but we have all of eternity waiting for us after this life. Don't fall for it, don't fall for it. Don't fall for the prosperity gospel that wants you to believe you can have everything here and now that this life is the best that you will have. Paul is showing us in Romans 8 that God has given us spiritual blessings of the resurrected life now. Yes, he's given us those spiritual blessings, no condemnation, our sin paid for and forgiven, the Spirit of God in us, becoming children of God. But we live in this already not yet age, that we already have these good blessings, but we do not yet have them in full. But friends, it is coming. It is coming. The day is coming where God will bring it all to completion. And so he says, "As we go through suffering now, we can do so knowing that the suffering is not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed in us." Now, this suffering for following Christ, it may come in different ways. It comes in different ways for a lot of people, it may come in the loss of relationships specifically because you have started following Jesus. It's something that happens, it's something that's real and it's hard and it hurts when that happens. That suffering may come simply by doing the right thing when it's hard. Maybe it lowers your status in society or it gets you in trouble or it makes others dislike you or it costs you a lot in order to do the right thing. And we can suffer sometimes for doing the right thing in following Christ. That suffering may come by saying no to an addiction because it's hard. It's a lot easier to say yes to an addiction than to say no to it. And just listen to me for a minute. I want you to listen to me. If you are suffering, if you are having trouble, if you are battling an addiction, I want you to look at me right now and I want you to listen up. I want you to know that there is hope in Jesus Christ. If you're battling an addiction right now, I want you to know that Jesus Christ, when we trust in him, he puts his spirit inside of us and he gives us sin breaking power that we can say no to those things. And how are we to say no to those things? We do it by saying the suffering of saying no. The hardship of saying no, it's not even worth comparing with all the goodness that comes from following Christ. And we can battle those addictions and we can battle those things that are hard and we can fight sin all because he has given us all good things. And it is not worth comparing the hardship of saying no to the glory that is to be revealed in us in Jesus Christ. That suffering in following Christ, it may come by the Lord calling you to pack up and move away as the Judsons did, as many others have done over the centuries, to up and move away from friends and family for the sake of His name. And it's hard. It's already hard enough to do that. But you also know that while you're gone, you're gonna lose friends and family back home and you're gonna say, "Wow, that's eight years, that's 20 years that I could have had with that person. 20 years, 30 years, whatever it may be that I'll never get back, that I'll never see them again." It may be friends, it may be family, it may be parents, and it's hard. It's hard, but the suffering is not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed in us in Jesus Christ. Whatever it is, the suffering is not worth comparing with the glory that is coming, the glory of being with Christ and the glory of being made like Christ in every way. And so as we walk through a world that is still full of suffering, as God calls us into things, into hard things, whatever they may be, we can follow after him, keeping our hearts set on eternity. And we walk through the suffering in faith knowing that God is good and that this life is short, but glory is coming and we will be with him for all of eternity. And I promise you, and God promises you, it will all be worth it in the end. He is using it. Whatever it is he is calling you into, whatever it is that you are walking through, he is using it for his glory and for your good. And we'll see that in just a couple of verses. So we can suffer in light of future glory. Second, we can groan in the hope of future glory. We can groan in hope for future glory in verses 19-27, Paul uses this word groaning a couple of times. He uses this word groaning. What does that mean to groan? You know what it means to groan, right? It's that thing you do when you remember some awkward moment in your past, right? And you're just like you groan, right? You know what I'm talking about? Some awkward moment you're hoping that nobody remembers, but you remember and you kind of, you make that deep groaning sound, right? He uses this word groaning. There's two different ways to groan though, and we need to make sure that as we look at what he's talking about, we understand which way he is using it. First of all, you can groan with complaint. It's more grumbling, right? You're groaning, you're complaining and you're just leaving it at that, or you can groan with longing. You groan looking forward to what is coming. You know that it, whatever you're going through is hard now, but you're groaning, you're longing for what is coming. Here in Buffalo, we can do some groaning in the winter, right? I can't help but think of it as winter is coming to a close in the next six months or so, hopefully, you know, but we do some groaning in the winter, right? I'm doing it right now, apparently. We do some groaning in the winter. Some of you might groan just with complaint. That's kinda all you do, right? Oh, man, I hate the winter, I hate the snow. I hate not seeing the sun. I don't even know why I live here. I hear it every year, even though I know you're never gonna move away, right? You're never gonna move away. But that's just grumbling, that's just complaining. You're not looking forward to anything. You're just looking at the here and now and you're groaning and you're grumbling and you're complaining about it, but others groan in a different way. We may not like the weather. We may get sick of the winter, but you're not complaining. Instead, you're groaning is is just a longing for the warmth, right? It's going through the winter that makes you long for the warmth and appreciate it all the more. Trust me, I know I'm from South Louisiana where we have two seasons. We have summer and we have very summer. Okay? That's all we got. And moving up here, I have come to learn that walking through winter, it brings such a greater appreciation for the summer. And once you were in the summer you realize that all that the winter brought, it was not worth comparing to the glory of the summer, right? We appreciate it. We love it, it's good. This is the kind of groaning that Paul is talking about here. He's talking about longing for something better. We're not just sitting around in misery complaining, but we are longing for something to come that just isn't quite here yet. See, us Americans, we like to groan about things, right? We really like to groan about things, but the question is what are you groaning for? What are you groaning for? We groan for all sorts of things, I think. Sometimes we groan that things just aren't going the way that we think they should. Sometimes we might groan that things are going well for others, but they're not going well for us. We might groan for more money, for more power, for a better job, for a spouse, for a bigger home, for a nicer car, for a newer, nicer phone or technology or whatever else in this world it may be. And when you come to think about it, in light of what Paul is talking about, it's ridiculous things to groan for. They're things that are going to go away. They're things that are temporary and yet we so often spend all of our time groaning for something else here and now, something that is temporary, something of this world that is not going to last. And our groaning oftentimes it's just complaining that we don't have better things right now, but what are we supposed to be groaning for? What are we supposed to be groaning for? Paul says we are supposed to be groaning inwardly, not outwardly, okay? Inwardly, longing for Christ-likeness, longing for being made like him as we walk through this life becoming more and more like him and on the day that we go to be with him, to be made perfectly like him. Ultimately we are to be groaning for things to be made right in the world and to be made right in us when Jesus comes again. It's a holy discontent. It's being content with what God has given us in our present circumstances, but discontent with a world that has been marred by sin. It's longing for the day where the fullness of God's kingdom comes and we no longer have to deal with sin and death and decay and hardships and suffering. And Paul shows what it looks like when groaning happens the right way. First of all, we see that creation groans for recreation. Creation groans for recreation. Take a look at verses 19-22, "For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed for the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, and hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its to decay and brought into the freedom and the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time." So we see that the creation itself is groaning. He says in verse 19 that "The creation waits in eager expectation for the day when the children of God are to be revealed" The day of recreation, the day of new creation, it waits with eager expectation. That's proper groaning. It's patient waiting with eager expectation. It's not expecting it all here and now, it's not complaining that it's not here yet, it's waiting, but it is expecting it still. For the hope that we find in this is that creation will be redeemed, all of creation, it will be redeemed. When Adam and Eve first sinned, it didn't just have an effect on people. It had an effect on all of the creation itself. God cursed the ground. It was subjected to frustration. But what Jesus did on the cross was he reversed the curse completely. Not just for man, though it's centered there, but it will be for all of creation. God will set all things right and right now creation is teaching us how to groan. It groans in the hope of being made right when Christ returns. It waits with eager expectation. That's proper groaning. It's patient waiting with eager expectation. It's not expecting it all here and now it's not complaining that it's not here yet. It's waiting, but it is expecting it still. But the hope that we find in this is that creation will be redeemed. All of creation, it will be redeemed. When Adam and Eve first sinned, it didn't just have an effect on people. It had an effect on all of the creation itself. God cursed the ground. It was subjected to frustration. But what Jesus did on the cross was he reversed the curse completely. Not just for man though would center there, but it will be for all of creation. God will set all things right and right now creation is teaching us how to groan. It groans in the hope of being made right when Christ returns. But creation is an all that's groaning. Along with creation we see believers groan for redemption. Believers groan for redemption. Verse 23, Paul says this, "Not only so, but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies." Though we have been given the Spirit of God now we're still waiting for the completion of our salvation. We're still waiting for the redemption of our bodies. That means we are longing for the day when we are done with sin and suffering and disease and death. I don't know about you, but I long for that day. There are so many days that I'm just so ready for Jesus to come back and to set all things right and to set me right. That's our great hope, y'all. It's not that it's complete now, it's not that it's complete now, but that completion is coming, but for now we wait for it patiently. And so he says in verses 24 and 25, "For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently." The question is, what do we do with such a hope? What are you gonna do with such a hope? We have this hope that can carry us through this world, but what are you going to do with it? Are we just going to sit around and wait for what's coming? No, our hope shouldn't send us into hiding. Our hope should not paralyze us. It shouldn't keep us from moving, just trying to survive in this world until we move on to the next one. This hope should send us out into the world more willing to face hardship for the sake of the name of Jesus. More willing to face suffering for the sake of the name of Jesus. More willing to give up ourselves in our comforts for the sake of making Jesus known in whatever way that he's calling you to do so. True hope does not paralyze people. It moves people and it sends people to the hardest places to do the hardest things. That is what true hope does. That is what putting our hope in future glory does. It moves us. It moves us. It moves us out of being complacent and comfortable. It moves us into the world to make the name of Jesus known so that others can have the same hope as well, so that others can have the same hope as well. So that others can come into the joys of knowing Christ. So that others can come into eternity with Jesus. So what is your life showing about the hope that you have? When you think about the hope of future glory, and when you think about what hope does to a person, what is your life showing about the hope that you have? Is your hope just for what you can have here and now? The things that will fade and go away. Is all your hope in what may come tomorrow and what you may be able to buy and what you may be able to gain in this world, or is your hope in what's eternal so that you are willing to give yourself away for the sake of the name of Jesus for the sake of serving others. Our hope or our life shows what our hope is in and believers are to groan. Believers are to groan for what is to come. But thirdly, the Spirit groans for our help. Creation groans, believers groan. Paul says, even the Spirit groans for our help. Verses 26 and 27, "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, we do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans, and he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for God's people in accordance with the will of God." You see, as humans, a lot of us are afraid of weakness, right? Or at least we're afraid of admitting our weaknesses. Everybody in a job interview, they hate that one question. After they ask what your greatest strengths are, what do they ask? What are your greatest weaknesses? They wanna know if you know your weaknesses, our favorite answer is, "Well, my greatest weaknesses, I have no weaknesses," right? Okay, Chuck Norris, that's great, that's great, but you're just showing that you're afraid of having weaknesses. But weakness is nothing to be afraid of. Weakness, if you're a believer, you should know this. Weakness is a necessary part of trusting in Jesus. You have to admit your weaknesses and say, "I know that I need you, Lord, I know that I need you." And weakness is exactly the point where God reveals himself to us the most. It's exactly the point where God reveals himself to us the most. It's at the point of our weakness where God does something in our hearts. Through the Spirit in order to move us into maturity, in order to move us in to more Christ-likeness. So in our weakness, the Spirit helps us. He helps us by interceding for us when we don't know what to pray for as we ought. What's our weakness? It's that we don't perfectly know the mind of God. We don't perfectly know the hidden will of God, of why he's allowing things to happen in our lives. And therefore our weaknesses, we don't know what to pray for as we ought. We don't necessarily know exactly what it is that God is doing right here and now. And so we don't know what to pray for ourselves. I don't know if you've ever been in that situation before where you just don't know what to pray. There are some times where we just don't have words to pray, right? I know I've had times like this where I could feel the Spirit just groaning inside of me. I knew that I needed to pray. It was times of weakness where I literally, I know I need to pray, but I literally, I just don't know what words to say. I'm speechless and all I can do is fall on my face before God and just let the Spirit intercede for me, knowing I need to pray, but not knowing what to pray. Sometimes we just don't have the words. There are other times where we think we know what to pray, but we really don't know what to pray. The good news is that even when we don't know the right thing to pray, the Spirit of God inside of us, he prays the right things for us. And the good news about that is that the Spirit of God shares the mind of God because he is God. And so he knows exactly what we need. He's praying according to the will of God the father for us, and what is the will of God the Father for his people. It's that we would be like Christ. It's that we would be like him and that's what we should be groaning for. We should be groaning to be made like Christ and that all that we walk through, it may be hard, it may be easy it, it may seem bad, it may be great, but in all of it, we should be groaning to be more like Christ. And he says next that, "This is exactly what the Lord is working all things together for." So the final thing that we see today is that we trust in a guarantee of future glory. We trust in the guarantee of future glory. It's always a lot easier to move forward in hard things when we know that it has a guaranteed good result, right? Verse 28 has been described as the ultimate pillow that any Christian can lay his weary head on. Whatever it is you may walk through, whatever it is the Lord may call you into, you can rest knowing that he is working it for your good. Look at what verse 28 says, "And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." It's the great pillow that the Christian can lay his head on at night, that he can rest in, that he can trust in, that you can fall asleep to, that will help you to walk through this life. Now, too many people take this verse out of context, right? They take this verse to mean something like, "Hey, you lost your job. That's okay. That's just because God has a better job that's gonna make you more money right down the road." Maybe he does, but that's not what this verses say. They they think, "Hey, you know what? You didn't get into that college that you were really hoping to go to. Hey, that's okay. God has a better college that's gonna get you a better job. That's gonna make you more money later down the road." Well, maybe he does. That's not what this verse is saying though. That's not the point of Romans 8:28. He goes on to explain exactly what it is that he is talking about in verses 29-30, "For those God foreknew," before the foundation of the world, Ephesians 1 tells us, "For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified." The good that God has for us is that we are being conformed to the image of Christ. Whatever you may be going through, God is using it for the good of making you more like Christ and he's using it for the good of drawing you nearer to Christ. He's using it for your good, to prepare for you the wait of glory that you will have for all of eternity. This is the purpose of God for his people. And how does he accomplish that purpose? How does God accomplish the purpose that he has for his people in their lives? It's through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. All that God has for us, He is bought with a price by the blood of his son. When Jesus died on the cross, it was not so that maybe people would come to know him. It was not so that maybe people would come to be conformed to the image of Christ. It's not so that maybe those who trust in Jesus will have their salvation brought to completion. No, there's no maybe. On the cross, Jesus purchased a people for himself. That's what the word redeem means. It means he purchased the people for himself and he purchased the blessings for us, and he is guaranteed that we will receive each and every one of them to the full for all of eternity. God sent Jesus to the cross in order to purchase his people and to purchase the blessings. He had a plan all along and he sent his son to accomplish it, and he sent his spirit into our lives in order to apply it, in order to apply it. And that's why he says that those that God foreknew, he predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ. And those who He predestined, he called and those who He called he justified, and those who He justified, He glorified. He's saying that he will bring it to completion. It is a guarantee. It is a guarantee. You know why? You notice who's doing all the work of salvation there? God is. God is. It's not dependent on you, whether it be brought to completion, if it was dependent on you, you'd fall. You'd fall away. God is the one who brings it to completion. For all those who truly trust in Jesus Christ, for all those who he began a good work in, he will bring it to completion on the day of Christ Jesus. He is the one who has purchased it. He is the one who is applying it. He is the one who will complete it. It is guaranteed. It is guaranteed. This is what gives us confidence and assurance that God is working all things together for good. It's because it's God who is working. That's where our confidence lies. Not in ourselves, not in anyone else, not in the things of this world, but in God himself. It's because it was God's purpose and because Jesus has died and risen to new life in order to accomplish it. But that doesn't mean that we don't do anything. We still make choices to walk forward in faith. God is sovereign over it all, but man is still responsible. Paul's not saying, "Well, God said it'll happen, so I'll just sit back on the couch with my bag of potato chips and I'll just watch it all happen. I'll just wait. I'll just sit here and be comfortable. No, Paul is telling us so that when we face trials, when we face hardship, when we face sickness or loss or persecution or whatever else, when we walk into something hard that God is calling us into, when we suffer, we can continue to walk through it in faith. Yes, we are groaning for the day. We are hurting now sometimes as we walk through those things. When we are groaning for the day, when Jesus returns and sets all things right, but we are resting in the guarantee that it will happen, that Jesus will return, he will set all things right, and we have all of eternity to enjoy the fullness of the blessings that he has bought for us. Friends, whatever you may be walking through now, whatever you may be walking through in the future, whatever hard thing God may call you into specifically because you are following Jesus Christ, whatever it may be, I wanna tell you, the suffering is not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed in us for all of eternity. It's not worth comparing with the goodness of being with Christ for all of eternity. It's not worth comparing with all that God is giving us for all of eternity. As we stand in his presence and we stand face to face with him, and we stand in his love, it's not worth comparing. It's not worth comparing. The biggest question for you is what are you living for? What are you living for? If you're being honest with yourself, are you living for the here and now? Is what consumes your thoughts how you can collect more stuff? How you can get more comfortable? How you can hoard the things you already have? How you can get more, how you can raise yourself up in this world? Are you living for this world in such a way that it's keeping you from walking with Christ in all of its fullness? In such a way that it is having you say no to the hard things that Jesus calls you into. Are you living for the here and now, or are you picking up your cross daily and following after Christ? Are you looking with your heart set on the future glory that is coming for all of eternity and picking up your cross and following Christ into whatever it is that he is calling you into? I don't know what that may be for you personally. I don't know if you're already walking in it now. I don't know if you've already said no or you've already said yes. I don't know if it's something that's coming in the future, but I know it's something that happens for each and every one of us. Jesus didn't mince words when he said, "There will still be hardships in this life. It didn't mince words when he said, we have to pick up our cross and follow after him. But he did say, but take heart. I have overcome the world and if you follow me, you will share as heirs with me. That's what we saw in verse 17 last week. That's what we see in our verses today, and that's what we'll continue to see next week as we finish off in Romans 8. What are you living for? Are you living for the here and now, or are you living with your heart set on eternity? God has sent his one and only son in order that we could have eternity with him as we walk as children of God in a fallen world. Let's do it to the end that we are becoming more like Christ each and every day, and with our hope in the glory of eternity. Let's go ahead and bow our heads. Close eyes, go before the Lord in prayer. I'm gonna give you just a minute. I'm just gonna stop talking. I'm just gonna stand here in silence for a minute so that you can ponder, you can ask yourself, and I would invite you to ask the Lord to reveal to you what are you living for? Are you living for the here and now? Are you living with your heart set on eternity with Christ? I'm just gonna give you a minute to consider that and pray to the Lord for that for yourself. If you're here today and you've never put your trust in Jesus, I want you to know the here and now is the best that there is. That eternity is not good for you. Outside of Jesus Christ, this fallen world is the best that we can look forward to, but that you can have eternity in glory. You can have eternity with Christ. You can have an eternal life that is not even worth comparing. You can do it by putting your trust in Jesus, that he has died for your sins, that he is raised from the dead to give you new life, that he is the king sitting on the throne in heaven right now, and that he will return one day to set all things right and to rule and to reign over all things in perfect justice. If that's you this morning, I'm gonna invite you afterwards, we're gonna have some prayer partners up here that you can come and talk with, and they would love to tell you more about what it means to follow Jesus and to trust in him. But if you're here today and you are already a believer, we can slip into living for the here and now sometimes. Even as believers, we can slip into it. We can start setting our hearts on the temporary, on the things that we can look around and see right now and forget about the eternity that God has for us. And the more that we look at the things that are here and now and put our hope in the things that are here and now, the less we're going to walk in all that Jesus calls us to. But he has purchased you. He has bought you by His blood. You are not your own. And he has made you new and he has given you a hope that is beyond this world. And I want to invite you that if you find yourself putting your hope, slipping into that slippery slope of putting your hope in the things of this world, then turn your heart to Jesus and eternity with him and let him work in you now, even in the hard things. Let him work in you. Pick up your cross daily and follow after him. God, we are so thankful that you have given us your Son, that you have given us all the blessings by his death in his resurrection. Lord, there's now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. What a blessing, Lord, that we live in that here and now. Lord, our sin is forgiven and paid for. We have the Spirit of God living inside of us. Your spirit. We are your children here and now. We have all these wonderful blessings here and now. And yet we know that there is still the fullness to come. Lord, we are so thankful. Help us to walk with joy, knowing that the hard things, the hardships of this world are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed in us. Lord, let that send us out in hope. Let that send us out into the world speaking your name, serving others when it's hard and when it hurts, whatever it is you may be calling us to, Lord, I pray that you would light a fire of hope in our hearts for eternity, knowing that we can lay ourselves down right now for the sake of your name and knowing that we have all of eternity in your presence. We love you, Lord. It's in Jesus' name I pray, amen, amen.