Transcript

Tony Evans said this, “Reggie Jackson was a baseball player known as ‘Mr. October.’ He got his nickname because he was known to shine when his team played in the postseason.

“Reggie would come up to bat in the playoffs and come up with clutch hits, and often the ball was sailing over the fence. Reggie said once in an interview that he lived for the postseason because that is when he would shine.

“But Reggie Jackson, in order to get to the postseason, had to get through the regular season. His secret to shining in the regular season was to keep his eye on October.

“God is looking for some Mr. and Mrs. Octobers—people with their eyes on eternity who faithfully play the regular season because they’re looking forward to postseason glory.”

We have glory awaiting us in heaven for eternity. Living in light of eternity and our future glory in Christ keeps us focused on God’s purpose for our lives. Romans 5:2 says we “rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” One day, we will dwell in God’s glorious presence, our new bodies will be glorified, and we will experience God’s glory forever.

Glorification is the goal of God’s salvation. It is about our eternal hope in Christ. When you boil it down, the Christian life involves just three things: justification, sanctification, and glorification.

When we trust Christ as our Savior, that He died for our sins and rose again, we experience justification. At that moment, we are declared eternally righteous by God, and that judicial decision stands forever.

Following our justification, we begin a process of practical sanctification. This is a lifelong process of becoming more like our Savior, being set apart from sin and to God, and living out Christ’s righteousness. Sanctification involves our spiritual growth and maturity, by our faith and obedience to the Word of God.

Our practical sanctification will end at our death or the Rapture, whichever occurs first. Then we will experience glorification. Our bodies will be changed and glorified. And our experiential condition will then perfectly match our standing before God. We will be eternally righteous in behavior as well as having been declared righteous.

Justification is about removing the penalty of sin. Sanctification is about removing the power of sin. Glorification is about removing us from the very presence of sin in heaven. And all of this is by the grace of God.

Romans 8:18: “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”

“For I reckon” Paul wrote. “Reckon” means that Paul reached a settled conclusion after careful thought and reasoning. It is a true reckoning, because Paul was writing by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, what He wrote is the absolute truth.

“Reckon” is an accounting term. One commentator wrote this: “It is the idea of taking a ledger sheet, listing debits on one side and credits on the other, and then coming to the bottom line and reckoning on those facts.

“Paul is taking all of the suffering of the present time and putting it on one half of the ledger and then considering the future glory for the believer on the other side. As he steps back and compares the two, he concludes that there is no comparison! The glory far outweighs the suffering.”

Paul writes about the sufferings of “this present time.” God’s estimation of this present time is that it is a “present evil world” (Gal. 1:4). Ephesians 5:16 says “the days are evil.”

We live in an evil world and the days are evil. We see upsetting examples of this on a daily basis. This reminds us of our glorification and the blessing we have to look beyond this evil world in hope to eternity in glory ahead.

We suffer during this present time, but in the future, “glory…shall be revealed in us.” While our sufferings may overwhelm us now, Paul reminds us that they are temporary. They are only a moment when you compare it to eternity.

God is holding this truth out for the believer to help us endure the trials and sufferings of this life. He sympathizes with us in our sufferings. In His mercy, His Word and verses like this are here for our strength and encouragement from God Himself.

2 Corinthians 4:17 reminds us also, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”

The glory which shall be revealed in us one day will swallow up our temporary sufferings. When Paul tries to describe our coming glory, his words seem to bend under the weight of the idea, because it will be so glorious.

In view of that incomparable, eternal glory, the sufferings of this present time seem as light as a snowflake and as brief as a blink of the eye.

This glory to come will not merely be revealed TO us; it will be revealed “IN us.” We will fully experience God’s glory within and without, eternally.

The glory that will be revealed in us looks forward to our future, glorified body, when Christ will “change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body.”

In our new glorious body, God’s glory and goodness will be revealed in and through us. In that new body, we will never again experience suffering, only glory.

Romans 8:19-21: “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.”

The word “creature” in these verses is referring to the creation, the whole creation in general. Paul personifies the whole creation as eagerly looking forward to a future day. Paul broadens his view of glorification to include all of creation.

The words “earnest expectation” has the idea of “watching with an outstretched head, and suggests standing on tiptoes with the eyes looking ahead craning the neck to see something with intent expectancy.”

Creation is waiting eagerly for something. It is a waiting in suspense. It waits with readiness, preparedness, and continuance until the expected event takes place.

What creation wants so desperately to see is “the manifestation of the sons of God.” The word “manifestation” means a revealing, an uncovering or unveiling.

The creation is expectantly waiting for the glorification of the saints, that it also may be delivered from the curse under which it now exists. When mankind fell, the creation fell. When the saints are glorified, creation will be glorified. And creation waits for that day.

For the Body of Christ, the sons of God will be manifested and revealed at the Rapture when the saved will be caught up and glorified. Colossians 3:4 reads: “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.”

For Israel, the sons of God will be manifested and revealed at Christ’s Second Coming to Israel. Regarding this manifestation, 1 John 3:2 reads, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear [at the Second Coming], we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.”

Following this manifestation of the sons of God, the creation will change. Christ, as Creator and Lord over nature, will transform the creation for His millennial kingdom. The change in creation at this point will be revolutionary.

Isaiah 35:1 says of this time, “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.”

Isaiah 55:12-13: “For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree…”

Isaiah 11:6-7 reads: “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.”

Following the millennial kingdom, the earth will be renewed by fire and in the new earth there will be “no more curse” (Rev. 22:3). And the creation will be “delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” as verse 18 says.

The creation is anxious for the manifestation of the sons of God for the reasons given in the next three verses. In verse 20, we learn how the creation “was made subject to vanity.”

The creation “was made subject to vanity” or emptiness, futility, and aimlessness when sin entered the world. This is what Solomon observed when he wrote the book of Ecclesiastes, “Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity” (1:2).

“Vanity” means that creation does not measure up to that which it was meant to be. There is something destructive at work in this world, which causes deterioration, decay, death, emptiness, meaninglessness. And that something is sin and the consequences of it.

When Adam sinned, his transgression affected not only mankind, but all of creation. The results of man’s sin rippled like shockwaves throughout all creation.

Death entered the world by sin. The ground was cursed by God. Disease, pain, suffering, violence, sorrow, decay, misery, futility, emptiness, frustration all came as the result of sin.

Previously it was different, it was not vain; it was not futile or corrupt. But at a given point it was made subject to this. The creation being “made subject” teaches that the creation did not curse itself, but was cursed by someone else. And this was not a willing subjection to futility by the creation. It did not want to be like that.

It was “made” subject to vanity, “not willingly” Paul wrote. And the creation had no choice. “By reason of Him,” or by the decree of God, because of the sin of Adam, the creation had to be cursed, and it was made subject to futility.

We live in a sin-cursed world. The Creator remains sovereign over His creation, but the bad things that happen to us were not His original desire.

God created a perfect world with no pain and no suffering. But sin entered and death by sin. And the sufferings we endure are because we live in a sin-cursed world.

But notice the last two words of verse 20, God subjected His creation to vanity “in hope.”

It’s like God gave a promise to the creation at the same moment He cursed it, that “I am cursing you because of the sin of man, but this will not always be your condition.” The creation anticipates a coming day when its vanity and futility will be removed.

Hope lies ahead for the creation. The Millennial Kingdom is coming when Christ will transform it, and the new earth is coming when the curse will be removed.

And the creation’s hope is explained in verse 21: “Because the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.”

Like we will be glorified one day, the creation will be glorified one day.

As creation looks back it sees the ideal, innocent, perfect conditions that existed in the beginning. As creation looks around presently, it sees the corruption, chaos, violence, decay, and death that was caused by the entrance of sin.

As creation looks ahead, it sees its hope of glorification, freedom from bondage and a new heaven and a new earth with no curse.

The history of creation is in three parts: first, God said it was good. Second, because of the entrance of sin, God cursed it and it has been groaning in the bondage of corruption ever since. Third, one day it will be glorious and free from sin, having been delivered from the bondage of corruption. We currently live in the groaning stage.

The hope of creation Paul says is for it to “be delivered from the bondage of corruption.”

We’ve all experienced the corruption of creation. For example, you plan and think all day at work about taking a nice walk in a nearby beautiful forest. You expect to see the sun shining through the trees and to smell the wildflowers and to hear the birds singing.

Instead when you get there, you wade through overgrown thistles, and step over rotting trees, and find yourself trudging through mud. It’s cloudy, damp, and drizzly. You don’t hear birds singing, only the cawing of crows. And the smell is definitely not wildflowers and you wonder how long that dead carcass has been lying there.

Needless to say, the anticipation was better than the actual experience. That’s the world we live in. The creation is in a state of corruption, decay, and degeneration.

And the natural bent of the creation is downward, not upward, toward disorder, not order. It is in bondage to all this.

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15 that our bodies are “sown in corruption” and “corruptible.” The creation and we share the bondage of corruption in common.

Sin is the reason for our bondage of corruption in our dying bodies, and sin is the reason for the creation’s bondage of corruption in its decay and death.

But like we have the hope of deliverance and “the glorious liberty of the children of God,” the creation also has the same hope. The hope we share is deliverance and glorious liberty from the presence of sin in a glorified state.

One day we will be unfettered and set free forever from the presence of sin with its corruption and emptiness and wicked consequences. Today’s bondage will be exchanged for tomorrow’s liberty. And we will experience God’s goodness and glory and freedom.

God will liberate us and God will liberate His creation from the bondage of corruption. We, and the creation, will experience true freedom one day, freedom from sin and its bondage of corruption. And it’s a “glorious liberty” we look forward to.

Romans 8:22-25: “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. 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. For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.”

Paul wrote how “the whole creation groaneth.” Pastor C. R. Stam wrote this: “Most of the sounds which emanate from this poor, bleeding world are in the minor key.

“The wind sighs, the ocean moans, cattle low and bleat, wild beasts roar and howl and scream, the owl hoots, the dove mourns.

“Only a few birds sing, but this not in the sense that man can sing. Each knows only one simple refrain of not more than a bar or two, nor do they really sing for joy.”

We live in a groaning creation. There is suffering, death, pain, all of which is the result of Adam’s sin. Look at the words Paul uses for the creation in these verses: “vanity,” “bondage,” “corruption,” “groaneth,” “travaileth,” and “pain.”

The “whole creation” groans and travails. The word “travaileth” speaks of the travail of childbirth and the groaning and pain associated with it. For any who have experienced that or seen your wife go through it, that is intense, real pain.

Paul says “we know” that the whole creation groan and travails. “We know” because we all see it, hear about it, and experience the hardships of life: the real pain associated with suffering, disease, illness, violence, tragic accidents, broken relationships, death.

We know and see the catastrophes and disasters of storms, tornadoes, hurricanes, and earthquakes which causes such widespread damage and death.

Nobody and nothing is immune to it. The WHOLE creation groans and travails in pain.
But Paul using the illustration of childbirth is a hopeful word. Like childbirth, there is the time of intense pain, but then at the end there is deliverance from that pain.

Eve’s sin brought the curse of painful childbirth, and likewise creation endures its own kind of labor pains because of the curse of sin. But the pains of childbirth bring new life.

And one day, the creation will be delivered from its groaning and travailing, and the groaning creation will become a glorious creation, and there will be a new earth.

Speaking of the “whole creation” groaning and travailing, Paul adds “and not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves.” Paul shows how the believer is not immune from groaning and suffering.

Living in this sin-cursed world, we experience what everyone else does in life.

A police car pulled up one day in front of Grandma’s house, and Grandpa got out. The polite policeman explained that this elderly gentleman said he was lost in the park and couldn’t find his way home.

“Oh, Morris,” said Bessie. “You’ve been going to that park for more than 30 years! How could you get lost?” Grandpa leaned close to Grandma so the policeman couldn’t hear, and whispered, “I wasn’t lost. I was just too tired to walk home.”

The groanings and travail of the aging process, the exhaustion, fatigue, pains, weakness, and suffering, we all experience it, believers included. We’ve all done our share of groaning I’m sure.

We learn in verse 26 how the Spirit groans when we groan in life, sympathizing deeply with us in our sufferings.

Having the Spirit, however, does not mean that God keeps the believer from the pain and sufferings of living in this sin-cursed world. We experience it all too.

And not only does the whole creation groan for deliverance from the destructive consequences of sin, even we groan within ourselves, groaning for deliverance from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty from the presence of sin in glory.

And as the creation waits anxiously for the manifestation of the sons of God, we wait anxiously “for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” In these bodies that are breaking down, subject to infirmities of all kinds, and in the end will die, we groan within them in our spirit and look forward to when they are redeemed and we receive a new body.

And when you read about our new glorified body in Scripture, it makes you groan and long for it. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:42-44:

“So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.”

It is at the Rapture that we will receive our new body. It is then that we will be glorified and experience our glorification. Our salvation is complete at this point, when the physical body is the recipient of redemption and glorification at the Rapture.

Body, soul, and spirit belongs to the Lord. Our spirits and souls have already been redeemed.

But the fact that we suffer, grow old, and die shows that our bodies have not yet been redeemed. But the Lord calls the body “the purchased possession.” By the shed blood of Christ, our bodies are bought and paid for and belong to the Lord.

One day, at the Rapture, He will redeem them, change them, and glorify them. Then they’ll be fully and forever redeemed.

1 Corinthians 15:52-53 reads, “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” And so shall we ever be with the Lord in our glorified bodies.

Having the Holy Spirit guarantees our glorification and the coming adoption, the redemption of our bodies one day at the Rapture. The Spirit is called the “Spirit of adoption” in verse 15. He is the guarantee of our “adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” And “firstfruits” is a word of hope.

The firstfruits of the Spirit is telling us that just as the first pieces of fruit to appear on a tree provide hope of the future harvest, having the “firstfruits” of the Spirit provides us sure hope of all that God will do for us in the future and that we just need to wait for it.

Paul says “we are saved by hope.” What does he mean by that? We need to train our brains to always interpret the word “saved” or “salvation” by its context. What we are saved from in this context is groaning and suffering.

We are saved, delivered in our groaning and suffering by hope. What hope? The hope of glorification, our glorious liberty from sin’s presence and the redemption of our body.

As the believer does not focus on today’s sufferings; and instead looks forward to tomorrow’s glory, we are saved by our hope, saved from despair. And one day we will be saved literally by our hope of the Rapture and our glorification.

But Paul adds, “hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?” In other words, deliverance from our groaning and suffering is still something we do not see. If we had already seen and received the blessings of deliverance from sin’s presence and our groaning, we couldn’t call it hope. We can only hope for what is yet future.

Hope is about seeing what you can’t see and what hasn’t happened yet by faith. Our hope carries the certainty of faith. Our hope is sure. It is a confident expectation.

We know that our glorification is certain and the Rapture will occur one day and our bodies will be redeemed because God’s Word promises this hope.

Based on the promise of our faithful God and as we trust it, “if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.”

Our hope of glorification is certain, it is as certain as if we had already received it. So by faith and hope, with patience, we can sit back and eagerly wait for it, because it is going to happen.