Romans 8:23-25 "Eager For Our Adoption"

Introduction:

We have already seen in Romans that if we have the Holy Spirit then we are indeed children of God. Paul refers to that as the Spirit of Adoption and he says back up in verse 15 that we have already received it.

It is on this basis by which we cry Abba Father to God because our adoption in the Spiritual sense has already happened.

But as you may have noticed that as we live in the world our life experiences in this physical world don’t always live up to our Spiritual expectations.

And it is not only the creation that groans, as we saw last Sunday. But we may even find that in our own hearts we groan too when the spiritual realities of the Bible seem so foreign to our current situation.

We are not alone in this anguish, the Apostle Paul felt this way too. Look back at your text to verse 23:

I. The Anguish (23).

The anguish is in the conflict that we encounter in this life. This is because we know there is something better. But the reality of our experience in this fallen world and in fallen bodies keeps distorting the glory of God in the present and in the future.

Even as Christians, we experience this internally in our battles with our own sin and experientially when we are wronged by others in the world or we just witness injustice in the world.

The Spirit reminds us through conviction in light of God’s law that these things should not be. Remember the law of God is written on the hearts of men as we saw back in Romans 1.

God’s written word also informs us in truth and the Holy Spirit uses the word of God to convict us and direct our sanctification.

This is how a biblical worldview is developed in a progressive manner. If that is not happening then our worldview is being shaped by the world.

But it is not just the way we think that is being challenged. As we are being sanctified in our discipleship we are being transformed in our affections. Our love and motives are being cultivated into a deeper relationship with Christ.

True disciples are never satisfied with knowing about Christ but the desire to know Christ relationally.

And the deeper we fall in love with Christ, the less we will love the world. And the more we love Christ and are passionate for His glory the deeper the groaning for Him to be revealed and for us to be with Him.

The Holy Spirit is the firstfruits. He is the presence of Christ living in us at the current time. And it should be our desire to please Him and to follow His leading in our lives.

The Holy Spirit has already been given to us but there is the fullness of the harvest that is yet to come when we will be with Christ and fully experience the glory of our inheritance. We have God’s official seal of this promise.

In Ephesians 1:13-14 the Apostle Paul tells us: “13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”

Christian God has saved you and worked His redemption in you by the Spirit by grace through faith alone. In the here and the now you have been set apart by God and your sin has been pardoned because of Christ.

This is all to the praise of His glorious grace as Paul declares in Ephesians 1:6. But this is only the down payment of what is to come.

When I was young I didn’t want Jesus to come. I wanted to live a little bit. I wanted to get married and experience being a Father. I enjoyed life and I still do and I enjoy being a husband and a Father.

But when we are kids most of the time we were protected from so many so many of the tragic circumstances of life. The older we get and the more experiences that we have true reality begins to set in. We actually begin to see evil and the destructive aspects of sin in the world.

This experience helps sharpen our faith in the biblical sense, because it exposes the false security that can at times cultivate false hope in our lives.

The reality of sin and evil and pain and injustice in the world is the grim reminder that there is no lasting secure hope in this world. So in light of that truth we groan inwardly as we wait our final adoption and redemption.

But this was always God’s plan for us. This is not something new that we figure out in our 50’s. This is to be the anticipation of the Christian at all times. Look at verses 24-25:

II. The Anticipation (24-25).

Paul describes this anticipation by referring to the believer’s hope in these to verses.

He relates this hope directly to our salvation in verse 24. He actually says it is in this hope that we were actually saved.

The hope that he is speaking of is our final adoption and our final redemption. Our salvation has profound implications on us regardless of the age we are.

life can be very exciting and fulfilling and joy can come in many forms and they are not necessarily sinful.

But in all of these wonderful experiences the Christian should understand that they are contextualized in our relationship with Christ and are a result of God’s blessing to us through Christ.

Our existing blessings in our lives are not where our hope is anchored in the ultimate sense. Why would someone hope for something that we already have.

God and His fulfilled promises in the future is where our hope must be anchored. We will never find ultimate fulfillment in the things and relationships of this world as believers.

Our experience of such things are the road signs of life that serve in part to lead us home to God.

C.S. Lewis said, “God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.” (Mere Christianity pg.50)

I wonder if fallen man would ever be tempted to create his own peace and happiness in the world to satisfy his own longing for it but without God in the picture.

It is popular to hear parents today that they just want their kids to be happy. If this is true then a relationship with God in Christ is the most important component of such a pursuit.

Then why do we attempt to live like God is optional for our happiness?

I think verse 25 gives us a hint. If we hope for what is to come, then we wait for it with patience. Fallen man is compulsive in quest for fulfillment. He is not patient because he believes that he can create ultimate fulfillment right here on earth.

Colonialism and Empire building were all attempts to create more wealth and promote a higher culture of living. This humanistic optimism often brought religion along for the ride because of the moral benefit.

But the moral benefit of religious instruction alone was unable to work a heart change. As a matter of fact, at times it was even used to justify great evil in those societies.

And once fallen man believes it can’t be found or peacefully carried out in the world, he will either devise a plan for totalitarian control or he will spend his time imagining that he could colonize Mars or create time travel to straighten out the destructive components of history before they happen.

But biblical faith doesn’t do that. It roots it’s hope in the eternal sovereign God and anchors hope in the fulfillment of future promises.

And we wait for it with patience. My Mom once hung a poster in my room of a cartoon character praying to God. And he pray, “Lord give me patience and I want it right now.”

Of course I thought it was funny but in retrospect I believe that God and my Mom were trying to tell me something.

The it that we are to wait patiently for is our final adoption and the final redemption of our bodies. We have the Spiritual component but we are to wait patiently for the physical fulfillment of it.

As we wait we are to occupy our time with ministry in the Holy Spirit to others and being engaged in the sanctification process by the Holy Spirit’s ministry to us.

This is where the radiance of the glory of Christ reflects in us and through us to a dark world.

The Revlett family have bicycles and every bicycle have reflectors on them. Reflectors don’t generate light on their own but they do reflect light so if you are riding in the dark light will hit the reflector and it can be seen.

Conclusion:

Unbeliever, Even atheist and agnostics long for their own version of it. They even imagine a Utopia that is free from all of the hardships and difficulties of human life.

They pursue it for the glorification and betterment of humanity but the same problem of moral corruption gets in the way.

Liberal Christianity and false religion tries to challenge man to make better choices in light of his religious piety but in the end the deep roots of moral corruption push through like a blade of crab grass through a crack in concrete.

Only Biblical Christianity has the gospel of grace through Jesus Christ. Believe the gospel.

Christian this dark world needs the light of Christ to shine in it. Lives that radiate Christ in the world and live in such a way that demonstrates our ultimate hope is in eternity.

This is why Christian it is so critical that we continue to cultivate our relationship to Christ as revealed to us in the gospel of God’s grace.

We are not going to find our ultimate happiness and peace apart from God because there is no such thing.

God has given us the best in Christ. His grace sustains us in that relationship to Him. He will not turn us away. Come to Him confess and receive.

The best is yet to come. Let’s Pray!