Groaning For His Return - Romans 8:18-30

Today as Christians, we groan within our hearts because we want Jesus to come back. The only hope for this world is the coming of Jesus Christ.

The theme of Romans 8:18-30 is: there is no frustration, freedom from disappointment because Jesus Christ is coming again and that is the hope that keeps us going.

Notice, in this section you find a vocabulary that's somewhat disturbing. I reckon that the sufferings of this present time, the word suffering, is not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creation was made subject to vanity. There's another word: suffering, vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope. Because the creation itself also shall be delivered.

Notice those two words: subject, verse 20, delivered, verse 21. 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. Look at these words: suffering, vanity, bondage, decay, corruption. It's a description of today's world. When the Christian looks around him at this world, it's very easy, very easy to be discouraged and disappointed. Because we live in a world of pain. We're living in a groaning world.

And I want us to look at this fact that creation today is groaning. Now you see it on the front page of your newspaper: tornadoes and typhoons and earthquakes and and volcanic eruptions and plagues. And then there's the wickedness of man. Each one of us at one time or another has said, oh, Lord, how long, how long? It's so easy to get frustrated in today's world, but as Christians, we're we're not disappointed. We're not in despair, we're not going to give up, because we understand what is going on in this world. And these three expressions that I pointed out to you help us to understand what's going on in this world. Verses 18-22 of Romans 8: creation is groaning. And verses 23-25, believers are groaning. And verses 26-27, the Holy Spirit is groaning. And if you understand these three groans, you'll understand what's going on in this world and what you are supposed to do as a Christian in today's world.

Now let's look first of all at the whole creation groaning. Romans 8:18-22. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth together in pain until now. Three simple statements summarize the whole matter. God made a good creation. That creation became a groaning creation, but one day it will be a glorious creation. You see, when God made creation, he made it very good. What was good about creation when it came from the hand and the heart and the mind of God? Well, to begin with, creation was working in harmony. Heaven and Earth were together in harmony. All of nature was in harmony. There was beauty, there was unity, the division of sin had not yet come in. Creation was in the hands of God a beautiful, beautiful thing.

He made it a good creation, but it became a groaning creation. Now how did this happen? It happened because of man. Romans 5 tells us the whole story, doesn't it? Verse 12: "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin. And so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Who was that one man? Adam. What did he do? Disobey God. Why did he do it? He wanted to be like God. You see, he disturbed, he disrupted God's pattern. He wanted to defy God, and ever since man has been defying God.

You see, God made man to be the head of creation. He gave him dominion. When man sinned, he became the slave of creation. And today man is torn between being a king made in God's image and being a slave possessed by sin. That's what creates the problems in our world today. There are times when mankind acts as though he was made in the image of God. He does noble, great, wonderful things. There are times when mankind is lower than the animals. And this is what creates problems today. You know why we have an ecological problem today? It's because man does not want to submit to God. We're destroying God's creation because we are defying God's revelation. Acid rain, polluted water, devastated lands. Who's doing this? Man. Why is he doing it? Lust, desire for more money and more power. And now we're reaping the consequences.

Paul gives us the characteristics of creation since man's fall. It's a suffering creation. All around us, man and beast, you find suffering. It is a meaningless situation. Verse 20, vanity. That word is used in the book of Ecclesiastes 38 times. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. Vanity, bondage, verse 21, corruption, decay, pain. This is the world we're in because of man's sin. And so it came from the hand of God a good creation, and man made it into a groaning creation.

But please notice that that groaning is the groaning of travail in childbirth. Paul is saying that even creation is waiting expectantly for something to happen. And do you know what that something is? The glory which shall be revealed in us. You see, man and creation are bound together. And God has ordained that when man sinned, creation fell with him. But he has also ordained that when Jesus Christ returns and God's church is caught up in glory, then creation will be delivered. And then God will be able to put his glory upon his creation.

Notice verse 19. What is creation doing? Creation is eagerly expecting and watching for the manifestation of the sons of God. What does that mean? When our glory shall be revealed in Christ. You see, the creation is subject to all of this pain and vanity not willingly. It wasn't the fault of creation, it was the fault of man. But God ordained that creation should be made subject to vanity in hope. Verse 20. God has subjected creation in hope. Because death came into the world and brought all of this bondage and slavery and decay, his son could come into the world and die and deliver us from bondage and corruption and decay.

The first Adam led creation into ruin, but the last Adam, Jesus Christ, will bring creation once again into righteousness and glory. One day creation is going to be delivered. One day the groaning and the travailing will give birth to glory. Creation is groaning for glory. Are you groaning for glory? Does your heart ever cry out with creation and say, even so, come, Lord Jesus? Here's an amazing thing: all of creation is eagerly anticipating the return of Jesus Christ. All of creation is eagerly anticipating the glorious liberty of the children of God, but God's people are not eagerly anticipating it. In fact, we are so caught up in materialism and affluence and all the good things of life, we don't think about Jesus coming again. All of creation eagerly anticipates glory, the glorious liberty of the children of God. And the travail of creation will one day give birth to glory when Jesus Christ returns. In other words, this present bondage that we are in is not permanent.

Today as Christians, we endure all these things that are a part of creation. We don't enjoy them. We groan within our hearts not because we are in pain, or not because the world itself is suffering. That gives us a burden. But we groan because we want Jesus to come back.

Romans 8:23-25. And not only they, but ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, that is, 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 which we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

You see, in verse 22, Paul made the statement that we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. "And not only they." In other words, creation is not the only thing that's groaning. That should also be our posture. We likewise should be groaning. We know that creation is groaning. Are we groaning? "Even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, that is, the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope." Let me read that again. "For we are saved by this hope," or, "For in this hope we were saved."

See, we're saved by faith, we aren't saved by hope. We're saved by faith in Jesus Christ, but when you are saved, you are given this blessed hope of the glory of God. Notice Romans 5:1-2: "Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." In other words, there's no more condemnation. "By whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand." There's no more separation. "And we rejoice in hope of the glory of God." You see, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, but when you trust Christ as your Savior, then you're able to rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. We are saved by this hope. In this hope we were saved. What hope? The hope of the redemption of our body.

Now what is your response to creation's plight today? Or do you withdraw and get bitter and say, well, the world's a mess, I'll just live my own life and let the rest of the world go by. Are you out trying to patch up the world? Nowhere in the New Testament are we instructed to go out and try to patch up the world. Oh, we are God's agents in creation. We are given dominion and we should use every tool that God gives us to make this a better world. That's not our major job.

Are we groaning as we respond to creation's plight? Now if we are, it shows that we're saved. You see, Christian people don't consider this world their heaven. This is the only heaven most people are ever going to know. And this is why so many people are doing their very best to get all the money they can get so they can have all the creature comforts they can buy and enjoy this world. Jesus called them the children of this world. Now if you are groaning for glory, it shows you're saved. We as believers can never really be comfortable in this world, because this world is not our home. Our citizenship is in heaven. Our home is in heaven. Our Father is in heaven. Our Savior is in heaven. Our treasures are in heaven. We are looking for the things that are to come. We are not living for the things that are going to pass away. We have this hope.

Now, the unsaved people are also groaning. Let's not ever get the idea that Christians are the only ones who groan. Unsaved people groan. They groan because of their sin. They groan because of the results of sin. And one day they shall be ushered into eternal groaning. An eternal place of punishment that the Bible describes as a furnace of fire, a lake of fire. Oh, I know some people don't like that. They say don't talk about hell. Well, Jesus had more to say about hell than he did about heaven. You and I as Christians are groaning within ourselves because we're groaning for glory. We aren't groaning because our bodies hurt. Anybody can do that. We aren't groaning because this world is a place of turmoil and vanity and strife. Anybody can do that. We are groaning for glory. We are groaning because we want the Lord Jesus Christ to come back.

Now, Paul makes it very clear here that the reason we are groaning is because we have the firstfruits of the Spirit. You will recall that in the Old Testament, the Jewish nation had seven very special feasts every year. Now on the day after the Sabbath day that followed Passover, they had the feast of firstfruits. And so on the Sunday following Passover, they they would go out into the field and they would cut down some of the barley, and they would bring a sheaf and it was waved before the Lord, saying to the Lord, the whole harvest belongs to you.

Now this is a picture of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In 1 Corinthians 15:20-21, Paul calls Jesus Christ the firstfruits. He is the firstfruits. In other words, when Jesus arose from the dead, that was the firstfruits. The whole harvest is going to come. Now Paul tells us in Romans 8:23 that we have the firstfruits of the Spirit. That means the Holy Spirit of God is that little barley sheaf. When the barley sheaf was waved before the Lord, it was as though the priest were saying, dear Lord, the whole harvest belongs to you. When Jesus arose from the dead, he was saying to us, I'm going to reap the whole harvest. All of you shall one day be raised in glory.

Now, the Holy Spirit within us is the firstfruits of the glory that's going to come. The Lord Jesus Christ is now in heaven. He's preparing a home for us. The Holy Spirit of God lives within the believer. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. Romans 8:9. The witness of the Holy Spirit within assures you that you are a child of God. Romans 8:16. Now Paul tells us in Romans 8:23, we have the firstfruits of the Spirit. We have the beginning of heaven. The Holy Spirit of God gives to us those firstfruits of glory. We taste of the glory of heaven as we read the Word of God. We taste of the glory of heaven as we fellowship with the people of God. We taste of the glory of heaven as the Holy Spirit helps us in prayer and worship. We have the joy of heaven in our hearts today because of the firstfruits of the Holy Spirit. This is what makes us groan. What are we groaning for? We're waiting for the adoption, that is, the redemption of our body. We are saved in this hope. What is our hope? That one day Jesus shall come again and the redemption shall be completed.

You see, God has not fully revealed yet what he is doing in us and for us. That's why Paul says in Romans 8:18 that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us, not to us, in us. And this is why we read in verse 21 that all of creation is waiting for the glorious liberty of the children of God. And this is why in verse 23 he says we're all waiting for the adoption, that is, the redemption of the body.

What is our hope? That one day God will complete this redemption. Today our souls have been saved, our sins have been forgiven, but we still live in a wicked world and we still live in a body of corruption. Even though the Holy Spirit of God lives within us, that law of sin and death is at work in this world. And our bodies decay, our bodies get weak, our bodies die. Oh, yes, we go home to be with the Lord. But you see, God made us in his image and God made us to share his glory. And through Jesus Christ we do share that glory. And we're waiting expectantly for Jesus to return and redeem the body. I understand this to mean that today the body does not experience redemption.

Now I believe God answers prayer and heals the body. He doesn't have to. But he does it, he can. In my own experience I have known as a pastor for God's powerful Spirit to work in raising people up. I've experienced it and I've seen it. I do not believe that God has to heal everybody. I do not believe that we can command God to heal. We're waiting for the redemption of the body. Don't focus so much on the body today, focus on the glory that is going to come. Your body may hurt today. The doctor may have told you that you they just can't do anything for your body. Well, what are we waiting for? A better body in this life? No. A better world in this life? Of course not. We are waiting for the redemption of the body. The adoption will then be completed.

Now we already are adopted. We have the spirit of adoption according to verse 15. The Holy Spirit of God in our hearts says, Abba Father, and we say, Abba Father. Adoption means we have an adult standing in the family of God. God does not treat us like babies. But in Rome there was a public ceremony and a private ceremony when somebody was adopted. Now the private ceremony has already taken place. God has adopted us. We've been born into his family. The instant we were born into his family, he elevated us to an adult position in his family. That was private, nobody saw that. There's one day going to be a public ceremony. Verse 23, we're waiting for the adoption, that is, the redemption of our body. We're going to have glorified bodies, bodies like the Lord Jesus Christ. We are waiting his coming. In other words, as Christians we are living in the future tense.

Now there are too many people who live in the past tense. They're thinking of all the sins they've committed, all of their regrets, all of their mistakes. And all of these things are like chains that just bind them, and they drag them around with them. And God does not want us to live controlled by the past. He wants us to be controlled by hope, by the future. We don't give up. Eagerly, expectantly, we are waiting for Jesus to come again. Even though there are scoffers who say, where is the promise of his coming? We are not scoffers, we are believers. And even though we suffer in the body, and even though we suffer living in a godless world, we have the firstfruits of glory. We have the Holy Spirit within, the foretaste of heaven within. And that is what encourages us to keep on going because we know that one day Jesus will come again.