The Glory Just Ahead

The Glory Just Ahead
Pastor Steve Anderson | 10.2.24

Romans 8:16-17 For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. 17 And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.

Romans 8:18-30

18 Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory (splendid, remarkable appearance) he will reveal to us later. 19 For all creation/the universe/what He made is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal/uncover/take out of hiding who his children really are. 

20 Against its will, all creation was subjected/caused to submit to God’s curse (because of Adam’s skin!) . But with eager hope, 21 the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. 22 For we know that all creation has been groaning/sighing together as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 

23 And we believers also groan/sigh, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. 

Philippians 3:21 He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.

Romans 8:24-25 We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. 25 But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently…..or… But hope that is seen is not hope at all. Why would we hope for that which is in plain view? So since we are hoping for something that is still unseen, it falls to us to wait for it with patience.

Paul’s three grounds of encouragement: 

1. The glory that will be revealed (vv. 18–25), 
2. The help of the Holy Spirit (vv. 26–27), and 
3. The fact that all things work together for good (vv. 28–30). 

2 Corinthians 4:17 For our present troubles are (comparatively) small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!

2 Corinthians 11:23-27 I have worked harder, been put in prison more often, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again. 24 Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea. 26 I have traveled on many long journeys. I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas. And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not. 27 I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm.

Romans 8:26-28 (And) The Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.(Greek: to groan or sigh as the result of deep concern or stress) 27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads (Petitions, pleads, begs, appeals to) for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.

28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. 

Suffering is not meaningless…..it’s

God doesn’t just look past it, He USES it.

Romans 8:29-30 For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.  30 (And) having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory. 

NOTES

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