GOD OBLIDERATED SIN, SO THAT WE ARE FREE AND ADOPTED AS HIS BELOVED CHILDREN!
Text: Romans 8:18-27
English Standard Version (ESV)
Future Glory
18For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
26Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.27And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
Dear friends in Christ,
On July 3l, 1838 on the Island of Jamaica, a man named William Knibbs, gathered 10,000 slaves for a great praise gathering. They were celebrating the New Emancipation Proclamation Act that would abolish slavery on the island. They had built an immense coffin and into it were placed whips, branding irons, chains, fetters of all kinds, slave garments and all the things that represented the terrible slavery system that was now coming to a welcome end.
At the first stroke of the midnight bell, Knibbs shouted out, "The monster is dying." At each stroke of the bell that followed this cry was repeated and the great crowd began to join in the cry. At the twelfth stoke 10,000 voices cried out, "The monster is dead, the monster is dead, let us bury him." They then screwed the coffin lid down and lowered it into a huge grave and covered it up. That night, every heart rejoiced and 10,000 voices grew hoarse, shouting and crying with joy. Once they were in bondage to slavery, but now they were free.
Suffering, longing, subjected to futility and groaning together, were the feeling these slaves felt who were in bondage before being emancipated and set free … and in our Epistle lesson today, the Apostle Paul, in writing to the church at Rome, will use those same words to offer hope to a people suffering in this life for their faith.
GOD OBLIDERATED SIN, SO THAT WE ARE FREE AND ADOPTED AS HIS BELOVED CHILDREN!
It was probably during Saint Paul’s third missionary journey; while in Corinth, that he sat down to write this epistle to the Romans. The church in Rome had most likely been started by some Jewish inhabitants who were present in Jerusalem on the great day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured out in the books of acts, and may have been part of the three thousand who were baptized and added to the number of believers on that day. (Acts 2:41)
As we were told in (Acts 2:9-10):
9Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome,
Paul appeals to these believers in Rome to consider their sufferings, just as the entire creation also waits for the freedom from the bondage that sin placed it in. Every aspect of creation has been touched by the fall of Adam and Eve into sin and is subject to its consequences.
Creation even has been groaning, along with these Christians in Rome, as a slave might, who is held fast by shackles and fetters, which are the leg irons, of sin. Crying out for the freedom that they long to see and waiting patiently to shed the slave clothes and filthy rags of this life for the freedom that awaits; where sin, death and the Devil no longer hold power over them.
We too, look to the day when we will be free from the bonds of sin. I’m sure many of you notice, as I do, when I look in the mirror in the morning and see the reality of this corrupted world in the lines on my face and the shape of my body. The reality of the consequence of sin is evident.
We are all getting older. Some things we use to eat we can’t now – at least that is what the doctors tell us. Getting up off the ground causes much more pain in my knees and I’m sure in many of yours then it use to. And, it all came to a head for me when I was at work. Many of you know that I work in the piano business and I went to help one of our drivers lift a piano and place it on a furniture dolly …
I couldn’t lift my end. I’ve always lifted my end. This was a reality check for me. A consequence of sin is death and we all are getting closer to this reality daily.
The reality of sin is something all of us see, hear or read about daily. Just a little over a week ago, an ex-convict went on a deadly shooting spree in Grand Rapids, targeting two ex-girlfriends, fatally shooting both of them and five members of their families, including his own 12-year-old daughter.
22For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. (Rom. 8:22, 23)
Does your sinful flesh long with all creation for heaven? Or, are you tied to the things of the flesh?
GOD OBLIDERATED SIN, SO THAT WE ARE FREE AND ADOPTED AS HIS BELOVED CHILDREN!
The truth is that just like those slaves that put the remnants of their slavery in a large box and buried it. The remnants of your slavery to sin have been taken upon the very body of Jesus Christ. The whips, chains and leg irons, the sufferings, longing and groaning of the sins of the whole world have been laid upon Him at the cross. He died and was buried as a sacrifice for sin but He was not left in the grave. He rose on the third day and the blessed Good News of the hope that all believers share was what those first Christians in Rome hoped for.
The Holy Spirit, in those first believers, interceded for them with groaning too deep for words. (Rom. 8:26) God’s redemption in Christ is their redemption, as they waited patiently for the Glory that would be revealed in them. (Rom. 8-18)
God gave them hope and He sustains that hope through the working of the Holy Spirit. The work of the Holy Spirit is that He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. (Rom 8:27) And what was that will? - To point them to the finished work of Jesus Christ. God has freed them from their slavery and bondage to sin and has adopted them as His children. The Holy Spirit confirmed to those believes in Rome and comforted them in their affliction and suffering as they waited for the blessed hope by faith in Christ’s finished work.
Martin Luther put it this way:
Your righteousness cannot be seen, cannot be felt; rather you must hope that it will be revealed in due time. This is why you must not judge by the feelings of sin, which troubles and terrifies you, but by the promise and teaching of faith, by which Christ is promised, who is your perfect everlasting righteousness.
Christ has set you free from the bonds of sin too. He has taken your sin upon Himself satisfying God’s justice at the cross by giving His own life for you. He takes your filthy rags of sin upon Himself and covers you with His royal righteous robes - free from sin - a righteousness He secured for you by the sinless life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
God the Holy Spirit will continue to intercede for you as you wait to be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. (Rom. 8:21)
Freedom always has a cost but God has paid the price for your freedom from sin, death and the Devil. He has finished your redemption and the Holy Spirit in you confirms this Good News by faith. God has given you a new nature in the Spirit, being born again in your baptism in wait-full anticipation, along with creation to see Jesus Christ glorified - adopted as Son's of the Living God, who you are, to be raised to sinless glory, from corruption to incorruption, from bondage to freedom from decay, age, sin and death, and for the first time, you will live complete, in a glory that you cannot imagine.
Saint Paul tells us in: 1 Corinthians 2:9
9But, as it is written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him"—
Our Lord Jesus Christ has redeemed you by His blood on the cross and has called us all, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to believe the Good News of the Gospel. That on account of Christ’s merits you are free from all sin and guilt. The Holy Spirit has created faith in you to believe this Good News and will continue to conform into the image of Christ and sustain you in the one true faith.
GOD OBLIDERATED SIN, SO THAT YOU ARE FREE AND ADOPTED AS HIS BELOVED CHILD!
Amen
And the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, guard your hearts and your minds in and through Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior now and forever.
Amen
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