Creation Groans: Waiting for Future Glory

Romans 8:19–22 “For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.”

Jesus created all things

Colossians 1:16

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Colossians 1:16 “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:”

all things

spiritual

physical are created by Christ Jesus ALL

John 1:3

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John 1:3 “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”

all things made by Jesus

all things made in perfection and harmony and unity

all things made to work together for the glory of God

that was the plan but God also wanted us to love Him not because that is how we were created but because we wanted to love Him because He is so good and perfect and holy

He desires for us to love Him because He first loved us

In order for that to happen....us to love Him because He first loved us He had to allow us to have free will

Love isn’t really love when it is forced

love is love when it is chosen

He knew the cost

He knew what Jesus would have to do and endure to save us because He knew we would fail and sin

He chose to create us anyway

He chose love and because He chose love He chose suffering and death to offer us life!

We look at the results of sin in terms of what it costs us

the price we must pay

the consequences we must suffer because of our choice to sin

However the consequences go way beyond us

sin’s consequences are always felt by many other not just us

in those moments we must chose love

we must chose forgiveness

we must chose reconciliation

creation....the world....as we saw...created by Jesus also suffers because of our sin

Jesus made everything to be at peace and unified and working together therefore bringing God glory

at the fall that all drastically changed

as we look at this morning’s scripture I want to look at a few things about our heavenly perspective and the future glory that is coming in Christ Jesus

First look again at vs 19

Romans 8:19

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Romans 8:19 “For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.”

Creation is earnestly waiting for the return of Jesus

when Jesus returns we will move from flesh and blood and bone to sons of God

our heavenly bodies

for us humans when God promotes us home we receive our heavenly bodies as well but for creation...the world.....it must wait

I can’t wait to see the physical world as God intended for it to be

Since the bite of the fruit when sin entered the world...the physical world has been decaying and dying

i love being in nature

the short time we drove through the smokey mountains several years ago i was in awe and wonder at God’s beauty

His creation

I see pictures of mountains and rainforests and God’s beautiful creation

as beautiful as it is we must realize what we are seeing today is not as it was when He created it

what we are seeing today is tarnished by thousands of years of decay and death

creation realizes that also.....creation knows what God created and it longs for a return

it mourns because of what has been lost

it groans and earnestly waits for God to fix it all

It was not just the fall of man but the fall of creation

things changed drastically because of sin and its consequences

Genesis 3:17-19

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Genesis 3:17–19 “And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”

we see here Adam receiving his consequences as a result of his sin

Lots of people point to where it says thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife and blame Eve and claim the fall was her sin

she was the reason

usually that is males making that claim

if that is you hold your horses

Adam was there as all this played out

he was with Eve as she dialoged with the snake

he was there as she added to scripture

he was there as she was deciding to eat

he was there when she ate

adam was created a man but became a wimp

he chose to not intervene and then he chose to eat the fruit

it was just as much his sin as hers

one of the first steps in growing in Christian maturity....moving from milk to meat is owning your stuff

stop blaming others for your decisions

sin is always a choice and you are the only one who can make it

it is not anyone else’s fault it is yours

Adam allowed Eve to fall into sin and then followed her into that sin

First God cursed the ground which now would require sorrow and sweat to eat of it

that means prior to sin the ground and man worked together but now the ground works against the man

thorns

thistles

weeds

what was designed to require no work now requires much work and pain and suffering

man cam from dust and now he will return to dust when he dies

the in between is filled with toil and strife and sweat and tears

sin destroyed the unity that God created

that is why unity is a big deal

unity comes from God

division comes from satan and sin and evil

when we don’t have a heavenly perspective then discord becomes very easy to entertain

God has moved in might ways recently in and among us here at CCC

what has followed is division

seeds of discord were planted by flesh and those seeds were dwelt upon and thought about and not taken captive and they began to produce fruit until those involved realized what was going on and sought God and repentance and forgiveness and reconciliation

you must constantly be on the look out for discord as our flesh loves it and God hates it

Creation is in bondage to corruption and only when Jesus returns will it be delivered from that bondage

Romans 8:22

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Romans 8:22 “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.”

the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain until Jesus returns

future glory

why

because when the time is perfect God will reveal the new heaven and the new earth where all will be reconciled and like it was prior to sin

Revelation 21:1

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Revelation 21:1 “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.”

When it is finished God will destroy the old heaven and the old earth to make way for the new heaven and the new earth

things will be so much different and better

Future Glory

I challenge you to pray about this and try to imagine the new heaven and the new earth

then I challenge you to long for it

to focus on it

to allow this world to fade away because what is waiting is so much better than what we now know

however God doesnt stop there with a new heaven and new earth

He has a plan for you and me as well

Romans 8:23

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Romans 8:23 “And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.”

You and I are waiting on the redemption of our body....that happens with God promotes you home to heaven or Jesus returns

again as it was created to be

eternal

spiritual

perfect

reflecting and giving God glory

the future glory has nothing to do with us

we will not receive glory in the future but will reflect God’s glory

we will reflect Jesus’ glory

we will reflect Holy Spirit’s glory

our bodies will be redeemed and His glory will be placed in us and our redeemed bodies

as we have looked at a lot recently as Christians we receive an earnest of our inheritance in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit

we are sealed with the Holy Spirit proving we belong to God

II Corinthians 5:1-5

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2 Corinthians 5:1–5 “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.”

our heavenly house

this tabernacle

these fleshly bodies that we now occupy

it is where we are at currently but we know when it dies or Jesus returns we get heavenly bodies not earthly bodies

do you truly groan and earnestly desire your new heavenly body

the more mature

the more you move from milk to meat

the more you grow in Christ Jesus the more you will earnestly desire your heavenly body and long to lose this earthly body

not because we look forward to death but because we know in death the future glory is revealed

in Christ’s return the future glory is revealed come Jesus come

What is our future glory

Philippians 3:21

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Philippians 3:21 “Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.”

Our vile body is gone and we will be fashioned like Jesus’ glorious body

His glory

Jesus is Lord of all things and one day His glory will be revealed to all and every knee will bow and every mouth will confess that He is Lord of All

Those who are saved will receive their new heavenly body that is fashioned like Jesus glorious body

we will not be glorious in and of ourselves but will be fashioned after Jesus’ glory

those who have passed as Christians are already enjoying that

that is future glory

that is one reason we do what we do here on earth

this morning we want to give you a time to reflect on the future glory and deal with anything God may have placed on your hearts this morning

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Earn an accredited degree from Redemption Seminary with Logos.