Romans 8:18-22 "Living In Light of Future Glory"

Introduction

Do you look forward to your final glorification? The Apostle Paul did.

As a matter of fact the hope of his future glory caused him to weigh everything in his life through the context of this future hope.

Have you ever entered a dark room and begin to feel for the light switch and your just stand there afraid to take too many more steps because you need the light to see by.

For Paul the Holy Spirit’s illuminating light of all that the gospel is, and all that the gospel does for us even in eternity was the light that he lived by in this dark world.

This was the calculated principle by which he lived. Look back to verse 18:

I. The Calculated Principle (18).

So how did Paul come to abide by this principle? It would appear that Paul embraces this principle in verse 18 partially because of the reality of the inheritance to come for the children of God.

He is focused on the reality of the believer’s eternal home where as children of God we will be glorified with Christ.

So Paul has made the calculation in light of eternity that there is no comparison between the weight of our present suffering and the glory yet to be revealed.

Now what does he mean when he says, “the sufferings of this present time” at the beginning of verse 18.

I think he is referring to our sufferings for Christ in the world mentioned at the end of verse 17. As I mentioned last Sunday, that would include all that we suffer in the world for Christ and his glory, which would include all that we endure in our sanctification in order to reflect Him and His glory in the world.

Everything that you have suffered, or will suffer through in the world in living for Christ is not worth comparing with the glory of what is coming for the children of God.

Christian, this principle is one that we need to keep before us at all times. Nothing that we suffer through for Christ for the cause of Christ is even worth comparing to our future inheritance.

Remember the words of our Lord in Mark 10:29-30: “Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.”

Meaning of course there may be temporal blessings in this life in the context of our sufferings but in the age to come, eternal life.

Then in Matthew 5 :11-12: “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

It would appear that Jesus is teaching us from this perspective as well. Jesus knew that His kingdom was not of this world but it was of a Spiritual nature that would one day be manifest in a New Heavens and New Earth.

The prophets of the Old Testament knew about this principle too they were persecuted and sometimes martyred for telling the truth. As John Piper says, “They were not martyred because they were vague.”

This same principle Paul asserts in Romans 8:18 is expressed in greater detail in Philippians 3:7-11: “7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”

So we see it in Jesus teaching and life example as he embraced the Father’s will in His death, burial and resurrection, we see this principle in the life and ministry of the Apostle Paul and in the other disciples. And yet it is seldom even mentioned in modern American evangelicalism.

What passes for Christianity today has what is so often referred to as the American dream incorporated into it. But beware Christian, Suffering as disciples and in our sanctifying discipleship is par for the course.

Remember that I said earlier that Paul partially derived His principle on what was to come for the children of God? Well there is something else that he perceives as true that brings him to this conclusion. Look back at your text to verse 19-22:

II. The Conclusive Perception (19-22).

The conclusive perception is derived from what he observes in creation in light of the the eternal glory of God. Notice the 3 major points he makes about creation in these verses.

First, Creation waits with eager expectation (19).

Creation is looking forward to the day of our eternal redemption and glorification.

Second we see, Creation was subjected to futility in the hope of future glory (20-21).

After the fall God didn’t curse only Adam but the ground was cursed too and death came to all living things.

That restoration that creation longs for is the restoration of our freedom from the curse when we are glorified as the children of God.

Isaiah, the prophet in Isaiah 11:6 speaks of this restoration: “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them.”

And again in Isaiah 65:25: “The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,” says the Lord.”

And then we see thirdly that, Creation groans up until the present day (22).

And this groaning is equated with the pains of childbirth. Jesus words in Matthew 24:7-8 “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.”

We can all see natural destruction in the world with increasing intensity. And no, it is not ultimately caused by global warming. It is the reality of the curse upon Adam and the curse upon that which he was given dominion over.

We see what we call catastrophic events and we may think God is to blame or we just accept it as being a part of the natural world order. Certainly He is sovereign but we fail to factor in the curse of sin upon this world.

And we may call it natural but there is something very unsettling about the carnage associated with it. And as time goes on the intensity will increase like birth pains.

Creation’s final redemption is in concert with our final redemption. Because Jesus Christ conquered sin and death in the Cross there will be a new heavens and a new earth and we will witness the restoration of everything that God called good in the beginning of creation.

You see Christian Paul could just look at creation and see aspects of the curse in the creation itself.

A few months ago I stood in front of where my Aunt and Uncles house used to be. It was a place I had been many times and it was always a joyous occasion to visit with them.

House was gone. Just a pile of debris remained. Their house took a direct hit at about 11:30 pm on December the 10th.

And I didn’t find any hope that day in reflection on the events of the tornado or even in reflection on the great memories of the past.

No I found hope that day on the location of their current position with Christ. And on that day I was thankful for the Cross and the coming glory.

Conclusion:

I know this because the gospel is true and the fruit of the Holy Spirit was bearing out in their lives. They had been transformed.

Is this your hope as well today?

Unbeliever:

Believer: