Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Amen. Amen. Good morning.
[00:00:07] It is good to see you all this morning. I don't know about you, but my heart is full. Thank you very much. Stephanie.
[00:00:16] I said this before when I. My name's Craig, by the way. Craig McAlevy. I am one of the pastors here. I am a lay elder like Pastor Jesse, which means we don't get paid by the church, unlike Sam and Jim do. I just say that for clarification because I used to get paid by the church.
[00:00:37] But the reason I say my heart is full is, and I said this before, whenever I've had the privilege to speak, the care and the detail that the worship team, particularly Chris, in choosing the songs each Sunday, dovetail so well with a sermon, it's quite remarkable.
[00:00:58] And I have the privilege of knowing what I'm about to say because I wrote the message. But to know to sing those words is to sing what we're going to talk about today, to listen to Josh and Hannah, thank you for sharing this morning. Kristen, thank you for sharing this morning.
[00:01:15] We witnessed and heard God working through them. Right?
[00:01:20] We just sung a mighty force. We got one loose.
[00:01:25] We just sang a mighty fortress is our God. And in the verses that we were singing, it says that we will not fear, for God hath willed. We're going to talk about the plans of God today.
[00:01:35] We will not fear, for God hath willed his truth to triumph through us. And though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us, we will not fear, for God hath willed his truth to triumph through us. We witnessed through these testimonies God's truth triumphing through his people.
[00:02:00] And so we answer a question this morning like, does God have a plan for this broken, messy world? And it is already an emphatic yes that we've already heard. I don't know if you realize that or not, but that is true. And so that's not a part of my message. That's a little extra for you this morning.
[00:02:20] We're going to be in romans chapter eight this morning. So if you have a Bible, please open it to that or turn it on. If you don't have a Bible. There are bibles at the end of each row. Most rows have bibles under the seats. Feel free to grab one of those and turn to Romans chapter eight, the question that we are attempting to answer this morning in our series, asking for a friend, does God have a plan to fix this messy, broken world? And we're going to answer that question from Romans chapter eight this morning before we dig into that, though I want to mention, Jesse mentioned the name Sam earlier, but he gave no context as to who Sam was.
[00:03:02] Sam is our lead pastor and he is on sabbatical. Sam is married to Kim and they have four young children. I think they're all under the age of eight.
[00:03:11] And he is on a seven week sabbatical. He deserves much longer than seven weeks, to be honest with you, but he is on a seven week sabbatical. So I just ask that you lift Sam up. Sam Tennell and his wife Kim and his family. For those of you who are a part of Emmanuel Fellowship, please keep him in prayer. And those of you are not that are visiting, please know that our lead pastor is out and be praying for him and be praying for us as we scramble together to. To fulfill his very important duties as lead pastor of our church.
[00:03:42] So our question this morning is, does God have a plan to fix this messy and broken world?
[00:03:50] We could answer this question. Hello?
[00:03:54] We could arrive at the answer to this question this morning, literally from anywhere in scripture.
[00:04:01] Genesis one to revelation 22, anywhere in between. We could get to this answer anywhere in scripture.
[00:04:10] You see, the Bible isn't a reference book. The bible you hold in your hands, whether it's a paper copy or a digital copy, is not a reference book where we just look up an answer to a question like today, or really any answer.
[00:04:25] Neither is it an amalgam or a mixture of disconnected books thrown together with no purpose. That's not what scripture is. The Bible contains a story.
[00:04:37] The Bible contains a true story. The Bible is the greatest story ever told. You may have heard it said, and that is one single story, Old Testament and New Testament, one single story with a single common thread woven through that story.
[00:04:56] The Old Testament is the story of God's promise to send Jesus the Messiah, to restore what has been broken and lost in the fall, namely our union and communion with God that was lost. The New Testament is a story of God's promise fulfilled to fulfill that promise through the coming of Jesus the Messiah, his life, death, resurrection, and his eventual return that we look forward to.
[00:05:25] And it is in and through this story that the Bible reveals the very heart of God.
[00:05:32] It reveals his character, it reveals his nature, and it reveals that God is a promise maker and a promise keeper.
[00:05:41] And you and I, and we've heard some of that this morning already, are a part of that great story.
[00:05:48] Whether our testimony is dramatic or whether it's just a quite simple, ordinary testimony, we are a part of this great story.
[00:05:57] You see, when we consider plans, plans for anything. Plans for God's plan to fix this messy, broken world, or plans that we might have on any given project or task or long range goal. Isn't it the ultimate answer that we're really most interested in?
[00:06:14] Isn't it the big picture that we really want to see the end result right? Don't we want to know how the story ends? Isn't that really what we're looking for? The poignant thing about scripture is that it tells a story through the lens of minute details.
[00:06:35] And in these details, we come to know the very heart of God.
[00:06:41] The reason why I'm saying all of this is because our passage this morning in romans eight brings the minutiae of our lives and an aspect of God's bigger picture for us together, I think, in a quite compelling way.
[00:06:55] What our passage today does is it compares our suffering with glory.
[00:07:03] And that word suffering, I'm using as an acute example of messiness and brokenness and the tension that we feel in our own souls on any given day.
[00:07:14] So it has to do with the comparing of sufferings with glory. But it's not the glory you may think it is.
[00:07:23] We're going to talk about some pretty big ideas today. Glory is a very big idea, but it's not lost on me and shouldn't be lost on us either. That scripture does say in Isaiah, chapter 55, for my thoughts are not your thoughts, and my ways are your ways are not my ways, declares the Lord.
[00:07:43] And in the book of proverbs, it says that a person's heart plans his way, but the Lord determines his steps.
[00:07:52] But as I said, in God's kindness to us, he has revealed his very character and his nature through his word. So let me pray for our time this morning, and I'm gonna pray that God would open our hearts and our minds this morning to understand those ways and to understand his plans.
[00:08:11] Pray with me. Heavenly Father, thank you for this day.
[00:08:15] Thank you for those who have gathered here in this place. Thank you for the testimonies. We have heard of your people's faithfulness to them and your work in their hearts. Thank you for those that are watching online, as well as those who may watch or listen in the future.
[00:08:29] Lord, we need your wisdom and insight to understand your word here in romans eight this morning, I ask that you lay open our hearts and enable us to love you with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength.
[00:08:44] Help us to understand your ways.
[00:08:47] May our ultimate satisfaction and trust be in you, Lord, and in your revealed plans to fix this messy and broken world.
[00:08:58] And may we see our part in that plan.
[00:09:01] For, Lord, it's without finding our ultimate satisfaction in you and trusting in you that you are a promise maker and a promise keeper. If we don't have that perspective, Lord, no answer will truly satisfy us. We pray this in Jesus name.
[00:09:18] Amen.
[00:09:20] So, normally I would read the entire passage, but this passage today from Romans 1826 lays out really, really nice to take this in smaller sections. So we're going to do that, and the text will be up on the screen as well. Before we read, before I read verse 18 and 19, though, I do want to back up just one verse and mention that in verse 17 that precedes our passage. The verses in that verse talk about how, because of the work of the Holy Spirit, God himself, believers are adopted children of God. We sung that this morning, and we are heirs of God. We are co heirs with Christ.
[00:10:02] And then it says, if indeed we suffer with him, so that. So that we may be glorified with him, that precedes our passage this morning in romans. And then it goes on to say, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. For the creation eagerly waits with anticipation for God's sons to be revealed.
[00:10:32] I think it's natural for us to have a narrow focus on our suffering, because it's our suffering.
[00:10:38] How can you not have a focus on your own sufferings? But what Paul is trying to do here is he's trying to encourage us by putting our suffering into a global perspective.
[00:10:51] However, even though it's natural for us to focus on our sufferings and on the messiness and the brokenness in this world, what we need to embrace is a supernatural perspective. That's what's necessary to make sense of this. So there's two things I want to say about embracing a supernatural perspective. First of all, in our sufferings, our text mentions sufferings. But last week, Bruce Keller preached brilliantly out of romans chapter five, I believe it was, and he answered the question, does God have a purpose for our suffering? So I would commend you to that message, really to unpack the suffering part. And does God have purpose in our suffering? Because while our text starts there today, we're going to talk more about the comparison to glory that is really the emphasis of our passage today. But I do want to commend Brother Bruce. Four time brother Bruce. For those of you that were here last week, know what that meant. We are four times brothers. I'll explain later. If you don't know. The second thing I want to say about embracing supernatural perspective is how it relates to that glory I mentioned. And this passage mentions because Paul says that understanding this messy and broken world, and specifically our suffering, are to be understood when and only when they're compared to the glory that's yet to be revealed. Paul is looking at the bigger picture.
[00:12:22] Paul is looking at the glory to be revealed. What is this glory then?
[00:12:27] Is it the glory that maybe you may be thinking about the glory that we'll see when we are united with the Lord in heaven? Or is it the glory that we will be?
[00:12:38] Verse 18 it says, glory to be revealed. And in verse 19, it says, God's sons are to be revealed. We could also say God's children are to be revealed. Other translations say God's children instead of God's sons. And I would submit that the glory to be revealed is the revealing of God's children and that that is our glory as God's adopted children.
[00:13:06] This is the glory of our ultimate, final inheritance that we will receive as co heirs with Christ, where we will be glorified with him, with Jesus Christ.
[00:13:19] Well, what specifically does it mean that we will one day be glorified with Christ?
[00:13:25] Well, in Colossians, there's a verse that says that Jesus is the image of the invisible God. Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God, and that Jesus is the exact imprint of God's nature.
[00:13:39] And in Hebrews, it says that just as Jesus is now in heaven, so he was during his life on earth.
[00:13:49] And the Bible says in Romans, chapter eight, verse 29, which is next week's passage, that Jesse will preach out, it says that one day those whom God has saved will be conformed into this image that we just described from Colossians.
[00:14:06] And when that happens, when Jesus returns, we will be glorified. We will be conformed into the image of his son. Our future perfect state of being will be completely and perfectly conformed into the image of Jesus our savior and our king in a physical, I believe, body.
[00:14:26] This is to be glorified with Christ.
[00:14:29] God sees us as he sees his son. If we are found in Jesus Christ, this, I would say, is the revealing of God's children. This is the glory to be revealed. This is what Paul is saying that we should be looking forward to. This is part of the bigger picture.
[00:14:51] Now let's pause for just a moment and consider the story that scripture tells us.
[00:14:58] Scripture says that Adam and Eve, our forebears, were created. How in the image of God this means that they were made with a unique capacity, just like you and I, to reflect the glory of God as image bearers of their creator.
[00:15:15] So temptation could be resisted. Willing obedience to God was possible. Adam and Eve were holy.
[00:15:23] But as this story goes, as this true story goes, Adam and Eve rebelled against God, their creator, and it resulted in broken communion with their God.
[00:15:35] And the inclination of their hearts were now bent towards evil to not reflect the glory of God. They were no longer holy.
[00:15:44] Sin had ruined the relationship God had originally intended.
[00:15:50] But the image of God was not completely wiped out from human beings. It was severely diminished. To be sure, it could no longer be seen perfectly because human beings were and are like a mirror reflecting the glory of God. But sin severely marred the mirror, and the reflective capacity of that mirror was largely spoiled.
[00:16:19] But there's hope of restoration of future glory that we read about today. This is the story of the Bible, the story that God is a promise maker and a promise keeper. And it is the revealing of this future glory that the rest of our passage this morning testifies to or points to. And it does so in a very specific way, very unique way, in that that we're about to lay out is a threefold testimony, a threefold testimony to his glory that is so longed for, that is so desired, that is so anticipated. It's described in our text this morning three times as groaning.
[00:17:04] I think some of us can relate to that. Groaning.
[00:17:08] So what, then, is this threefold testimony?
[00:17:13] The first is the groaning testimony of hope by creation itself.
[00:17:21] The groaning testimony of hope by creation itself. Verse 19 through 22 says, for the creation eagerly waits with anticipation for God's sons to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in the hope that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage to decay into the glorious freedom of God's children.
[00:17:50] For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now.
[00:17:58] Now, one thing I want to say about this verse is this is not speaking of creation in terms of created beings that inhabit the earth. This is talking about creation itself. This is creation personified. And so there's two things I want to say about these verses. First of all, the language of creation, eagerly waiting with anticipation. Literally in the greek language, means head stretch. Head stretch. It suggests that creation itself is craning its neck, stretching its neck, looking forward to witness what? To witness the believer's conformity into the image and the likeness of Jesus. To witness this full glory, the glory of God, yes. The glory of Jesus. Yes, and the glory of the children of God.
[00:18:48] Now, why is creation so worked up over all of this? Because it has been subjected, our text says, to futility.
[00:18:59] Just as we feel and experience futility, just as we feel and experience messiness and broken, which prompts today's question. Just as we feel emptiness and futility and suffering, so does creation itself. Isn't that interesting?
[00:19:16] This futility is due to the cosmic nature of the catastrophic fall of mankind.
[00:19:25] This may or may not be new to you. I remember when I was first a new believer and I came to this understanding that it wasn't just human beings that were affected by the fall, but creation was affected by the fall as well, as evidenced by the rampant moles in my yard right now, that's another story. But sin has so wreaked havoc on God's original creation that he called good. Remember that it is experienced everywhere.
[00:19:56] This havoc, this sin, this brokenness is experienced everywhere by humans and creation itself. Now, this is where we have to understand the character and the nature of a good God, because only a good God could subject anything to futility with a hope that it would one day be set free.
[00:20:18] That doesn't compute to our human minds, but that is who God is. Only a God beyond our understanding can subject anything, anyone, to futility with a hope that it would be one day set free. The second thing I want to say about these verses 19 through 22 is that one day creation is going to be set free from this so called decay, and it's going to be set free in a very unique way. I don't know if you noticed it. It says it's going to be set free into the glorious freedom of God's children.
[00:20:50] What does that mean?
[00:20:52] Well, it means we're not looking forward to the perfection of creation. So if you were, I got news for you.
[00:20:58] Not going to happen.
[00:21:01] But creation is looking forward to the perfection of us. Isn't that interesting? To the glory of the believer's final state. When that is revealed, that is what creation is looking forward to. Stretching its neck. I love that analogy. Stretching its neck. Looking forward.
[00:21:21] Now, our human experience in these fallen bodies and in this broken and messy and futile world and our suffering feels like the final rattles of death, doesn't it? Kind of feels like things are coming to a destructive end.
[00:21:42] But look what Paul compares this groaning to in verse 22.
[00:21:47] He calls it labor pains.
[00:21:50] What does this tell us? A couple things. One is this is why creation is eagerly anticipating and stretching its metaphorical neck. Is because something glorious is about to be birthed.
[00:22:06] This groaning is because something glorious is going to be birthed. The revealing of God's children.
[00:22:14] And the second thing it tells us is, again about the very character and the nature of God. Instead of total destruction, instead of starting over, what does he do? He restores and he renews through new birth in Jesus Christ. And we just witnessed that through a couple testimonies today, both of which wouldn't you love to hear more about? And we, many of us, have this testimony this morning.
[00:22:40] You see nothing.
[00:22:42] And no one is beyond God's saving grace.
[00:22:46] No one.
[00:22:48] Not creation itself, and certainly not you and not me.
[00:22:54] God will one day restore and renew this world, which was his original intent in calling it good. It will one day be restored and renewed to a place where the people of God are perfected and enjoy the presence of God in the place that God has for us under the rule and the blessing of a good God, just as it was originally intended, in the garden of Eden. One day, scripture tells us, there will be a new heaven and there will be a new earth, and it will be glorious, and we will be a part of that.
[00:23:29] The second testimony is the groaning testimony of hope by the Christian.
[00:23:37] Verse 23. Not only that, but we ourselves, who have the spirit as the firstfruits.
[00:23:44] We also groan within ourselves, eagerly awaiting for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. There it is now, in this hope we were saved.
[00:23:55] But hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he sees now? If we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patience.
[00:24:07] I wish I could say a lot more about the word patience today, but I left that out.
[00:24:12] Not intentionally, but there's so much more. But that word patience as it relates to this passage is just.
[00:24:18] It's pregnant with opportunity there. But we'll have to let that one go today. But not only does creation groan, christians groan as well.
[00:24:27] But it shouldn't be a hand wringing groan.
[00:24:31] Our perspective is different than the world's.
[00:24:34] Our groaning shouldn't be a hand wringing groan.
[00:24:40] Our adoption, the redemption of our bodies, is what we were looking forward to. A couple things to point out here. Paul calls the presence of the Holy Spirit in the believer firstfruits.
[00:24:52] The Holy Spirit is a firstfruit in one sense, that Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit when he ascended to heaven. If you remember, he told his apostles that he would not leave them as orphans. He was going to provide them with a helper, the Holy Spirit.
[00:25:09] So where proximity to God right in Jesus the image and the glory and the radiance of God. Proximity to God was once contingent on a group of people, a relatively small group of people, literally following their rabbi Jesus around. That's how proximity to God was accomplished. God now dwells in the very hearts of his followers, every one of you. If you are a believer in Jesus, the Holy Spirit dwells within you.
[00:25:37] The Holy Spirit is also our first fruit in the sense that it is the Holy Spirit and the work of the Holy Spirit that awakens our dead hearts to the truth of our sin, our personal sin. I remember a time when the gospel was exploding in my own heart and I realized sin wasn't theoretical, it was personal. And it was my personal sin that hung Jesus on the cross. The Holy Spirit does that work? That was not a work done by me.
[00:26:04] The Holy Spirit awakens us to the utter holiness of God, and it awakens us to the massive deficit that lies between those two truths, our personal sin and a holy God. And the Holy Spirit awakens us to those truths and this deficit that is between them. And then he awakens us to the all sufficient work of Jesus Christ to reconcile us to God through faith in Christ when we repent and trust in him.
[00:26:37] This is a total supernatural work of God.
[00:26:40] Scripture is clear. We play no role in this by our good works.
[00:26:46] And there is a connection between the first fruit of the Holy Spirit and our hope. Hope is in this passage quite a few times. In two corinthians five, Paul calls the Holy Spirit. Here. He calls him a first fruit. In two corinthians five, Paul calls the Holy Spirit a down payment.
[00:27:05] I love that picture. What do down payments do for us? They guarantee a possession. I know that analogy can fall apart quickly, but just hang with me for a second. Down payments guarantee a future possession. Right. A possession of now. Right. Immediate possession. But then future final possession.
[00:27:26] If the Holy Spirit is the first fruit and a down payment, then what is the later fruit? Well, it is what we've been talking about. The final adoption, the redemption of our bodies, is the guarantee. And God gives us his spirit as an everyday, every moment reminder of this guaranteed hope, of this truth.
[00:27:47] Now, that word hope, biblical hope, is not the way that we use the word in our present time. We use the word hope to mean something that we really don't have a great deal of confidence will happen. Right. We hope it doesn't rain.
[00:28:03] We hope we get that job. We hope that the sermon doesn't last too much longer. I hear you.
[00:28:10] We use hope more like a wish or a dream. But when the Holy Spirit gives us faith to trust in Christ, he also gives us the ability to hope rightly because of his Holy Spirit, as a down payment. Bruce said it last week in his passage, romans five we rejoice in that hope. We rejoice in that hope in the glory of God. And this hope will not disappoint because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who he has given to us.
[00:28:44] Hebrews eleven says, faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. Simply put, hope is the assurance of a future reality. Hope is the assurance of a future reality.
[00:29:03] Now, in truth, when we talk about adoption and being adopted into the family of God, we are already adopted into the family of God. We look forward to the finalization of that one day. But we are already adopted into the family of God when he saves us. God sees you right now. If Jesus is your lord and savior, God sees you right now as his child, as his beloved. He sees you as a co heir with Christ, and he sees you and I, holy and blameless, in love before him. That is how God sees us right now.
[00:29:39] If you're dealing with shame, if you're dealing with a sadness and a depression that feels like what you've done wrong, God could not possibly forgive. If you have claimed Jesus as your savior, God sees you as holy, beloved. He sees you as he sees his son, and he sees you that way. Now, you see, God is outside of space and time. Jesus work on the cross is finished and in a supernatural, eternal way. So is our final adoption in the eyes of God. And we are called to live that out.
[00:30:15] So we are designed to live embracing this supernatural reality of the gospel in the already with a hopeful eye towards the glorious. Not yet. I'm gonna say that again. We are designed to live our lives embracing the supernatural reality of the gospel in the already with a hopeful eye towards the glorious. Not yet.
[00:30:41] And we see glimpses of that. We see glimpses of what God is doing to bring all things together in Christ, to unite and restore all things. We see it through the lives of followers of Jesus, fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, whether a part of this church or another church or in the greater church, the universal church, believers that you may know and live with and work with and just enjoy their fellowship. We see God working through them. And we also see, believe it or not, God working through those who don't believe.
[00:31:14] We can even see God working through those who reject him outright because of the common grace of God.
[00:31:21] This speaks to the very character and the nature of the God that we love and we serve and who has saved us. We get glimpses of this beauty even in those that are far from God. Remember, the mirror was marred, but it still reflects. Even if it's imperfect, it still reflects.
[00:31:41] We long for the not, yet we groan for it, for the coming of Jesus, when all things will be made new. In fact, we can have great confidence that one day it will be so. One final point on hope. It's not conjured up. Hope is not conjured up by our willpower. It's a gift of God, given us through faith in Jesus Christ and sealed in us by the Holy Spirit.
[00:32:06] The third and final testimony is the inexpressible groaning of the hope by the Holy Spirit, verse 26 and 27. In the same way, the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for, as we should. But the spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings.
[00:32:28] And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the spirit because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
[00:32:38] What a great truth, very familiar to us.
[00:32:43] The question is, who's groaning?
[00:32:46] In my point that I said is probably up on the screen, I say that the Holy Spirit groans. It's the groaning of the Holy Spirit. But let's look at this. I would argue that these groanings are our groanings. They're our groanings, but that the Holy Spirit stirs up these groanings. You see, we are the ones that don't know what to pray for. The Holy Spirit knows what to pray for because he's God, right? The Holy Spirit doesn't have weaknesses because he is God. Why would he groan?
[00:33:15] It says that he who searches our hearts. Who is he? God the Father. God is searching our groaning hearts. The Father doesn't need to search the spirit's heart. God does not need to search God's heart.
[00:33:27] If you look back at verse 23, it says that having the first fruits, the Holy Spirit, we groan within ourselves.
[00:33:35] We groan because we have the first fruits of the Holy Spirit. So the groaning in verse 26, I would argue, is the same groaning of verse 23, and they are our groanings that the Holy Spirit stirs up in us? In a sense, yes, the Holy Spirit is groaning.
[00:33:55] The text says that the Holy Spirit.
[00:33:58] This is the second question from this particular text. The text says that the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness.
[00:34:05] But what weaknesses?
[00:34:07] Because don't we have a lot?
[00:34:10] We have a lot of weaknesses.
[00:34:13] I think it means the weaknesses of our body, not necessarily exclusively, but I think that it means the weaknesses of our body. And the reason is because of the context here of our passage and what it says in verse 23, that we groan and we eagerly wait for the redemption of our bodies.
[00:34:31] And the suffering he talks about in verse 18, I believe, is the suffering experienced in our bodies. And just hang with me for a second. Think about this. Most of our prayer requests are about what our physical, frail bodies. Most of them are our weaknesses, our discomforts, the pain, the malfunctioning of body parts, disease, cancer, heart issues, brain tumors, knee and hip replacements, mysterious skin diseases, all things we've been praying for on behalf of the people in, in our church, rightfully and rightfully so.
[00:35:07] But if you're like me, I often ask myself, when I'm asked to pray for somebody, how am I exactly supposed to pray in the will of God?
[00:35:15] Do I pray for healing?
[00:35:17] Do I pray for endurance?
[00:35:19] Do I pray for patience in the suffering?
[00:35:23] Is it wrong to pray that in the midst of someone's physical trial that they meet Jesus?
[00:35:30] Or that they would draw closer in intimacy with him if they already do know him?
[00:35:36] We often don't know how to pray for these things.
[00:35:40] They are, as Paul says, too deep for words.
[00:35:44] We want healing to take place, and we serve a God who heals. But we also know that whoever is enduring the weakness or the suffering needs the wisdom and the comfort of God himself. So is that the prayer?
[00:36:00] What do we do?
[00:36:02] We groan inwardly. Even if we don't realize it, sometimes we do.
[00:36:09] We groan inwardly. The Holy Spirit produces these groanings in our hearts in such a way that the Father searches our hearts and he hears these inexpressible groanings. He understands these inexpressible groanings because the Holy Spirit is interceding perfectly on our behalf.
[00:36:31] What we have here, quite literally, is God praying to God, which is astounding to me.
[00:36:39] On your behalf and on my behalf. God prays to God.
[00:36:45] What a God we serve.
[00:36:48] The text goes on to say in verse 27 that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us according to the will of God.
[00:36:57] To our question today, we want to know the details of God's plan in any given situation. But Paul, again, Paul wants us to embrace the supernatural. He wants us to eavesdrop on eternity. He wants us to look forward. He wants us to stretch our necks and consider the day of our final adoption, the redemption of our bodies, the utterly assured grandeur of our glory to come. He wants us to consider that regardless of the situation, God's ultimate will and plan is for our good.
[00:37:30] Jesse's text next week that he will be preaching from verse 28 says that we know all things work together for the good of those who love God.
[00:37:42] I think ultimately the Holy Spirit interceding our behalf and praying to the Father is that our present weaknesses and our ignorance and the messiness and the brokenness in the world in the midst of our very suffering, that we would know and experience romans 824 28 coming true in our lives, that God's good is for us or he is for our good.
[00:38:06] So what do we do with this threefold groaning testimony of hope, and how does it answer our question? Does God have a plan for this messy, broken world? I hope I've given you some direction to answer that question. But in applying scripture to our lives like we like practical steps, don't we? We like practical steps. I know I like practical steps as well. But let's not lose sight of what we said earlier and that in answering our question that Paul's asking us to embrace a supernatural perspective, it's natural for us to think in practical ways. And God is a practical God, but his ways aren't our ways. And he's asking us here to embrace something. And I believe there are three things for us today that God is asking for us to embrace. And so in asking the question, does God have a plan to fix this messy, broken world? Yes is the answer. And it begins with the first thing is embracing the reality of Jesus.
[00:39:11] God shows us his plan. John 316 right. God so loved the world that he sent his only beloved son into the world. He sends Jesus in this world. He sent Jesus into this world to rescue you and me, to give us new hearts, to provide us us with hope and comfort, to provide us with help and clarity by his holy spirit. This was God's plan from the beginning. We read about it in a verse in the first chapter, or the third chapter, rather, of Genesis. After the fall, the moment the world was plunged into sin, suffering, messiness, brokenness, God had a plan, and it was Jesus.
[00:39:49] The seed was Jesus.
[00:39:52] This is where it all began.
[00:39:54] And listen to the heart of Jesus. Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
[00:40:02] Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. This is one of, if not the only time in scripture that Jesus reveals his heart. And it is a humble and lowly heart, a gentle heart for us.
[00:40:26] If we are to make sense of what God is doing in the world, we need to understand. The only way to even begin to do this is to embrace Jesus love and sacrifice for us.
[00:40:39] Jesus is the image of the invisible God, and yet he entered into our world.
[00:40:45] He entered into a specific time and place, into our existence, into the brokenness, into the messiness of the world. And he dwelled with men and women.
[00:40:58] Jesus healed the sick. He made the lame to walk, he made the blind to see. He cleaned leopards, he freed the demon possessed. And he did this to show his power and his glory as God himself. But he ultimately came as a gentle and lowly savior to die for you and me in our place, for our sin problem. Not the, the theory of sin, not the theoretical nature of sin, but for your personal sin and my personal sin.
[00:41:28] And then, as God only can do, is he raised Jesus from the dead. Right now he is in heaven. Even Jesus, scripture says right now, is interceding on your behalf.
[00:41:40] And perhaps for some of you today, Jesus is beckoning you to come to him.
[00:41:46] Maybe that's what you need to hear today.
[00:41:49] If the answer to our question did not or does not satisfy you this morning, you have to begin by asking yourself, have I embraced Jesus as my savior?
[00:42:01] Because, friends, it is only through Jesus and our surrender to him as lord that any of this will make sense.
[00:42:09] Does God have a plan to fix this messy, broken world? Yes. And it begins by embracing the reality of Jesus. And number two, it begins by embracing the intimacy with Jesus, our intimacy with Jesus. When you embrace the reality of Jesus and what he has done for you, that begins a lifelong pursuit of walking with him.
[00:42:33] And as we do this, first and foremost, we do this through his word, through the scriptures. This is where we understand the tender heart of God. This is where this comes from, this being, this message this morning, from the word of God, through the Holy spirit, hopefully and prayerfully, through a frail conduit such as myself, that this would come through. This is how we know Jesus is through his word. It's how we understand him. It's how we understand how he wants to uniquely work through us, through our pain, our suffering, through the messiness in our lives that we can't make sense of as children of God created in the image of God. He wants to work through us. We learn about that as we walk with Jesus, as we fellowship with him, as we learn and grow in intimacy with him. And you can only do that by taking up and reading the word of God, digesting the word of God, spending time with your Jesus in his word. James four, verse eight, says, draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.
[00:43:44] If you're waiting and God is wanting you, if you're waiting for God to come and just grab you, he does that. He does that through his spirit. But if you're trying to understand God, if you engage Christ in his word and you draw near to him, he will draw near to you, drawing near to God. Church cannot be done one time a week, in a one and a half hour service, we deepen our relationships with Jesus. We become intimate with him through his word.
[00:44:17] And the reason is because, as I said, this book, this Bible, this scripture, is about Jesus, all about Jesus. From beginning to end, we learn the heart of God, the character and the nature of God through his revealed plan in scripture. And that common thread, as I said earlier, that ties these books together, that ties the entire story together, is the thread of Jesus Christ.
[00:44:42] Does God have a plan for this broken, messy world? Yes. And this plan is lived out through us as we embrace the reality of Jesus and what he has done for us, and as we embrace intimacy with him, and finally, as we embrace the family of God, the church.
[00:44:58] Ephesians three says this.
[00:45:01] The multifaceted wisdom of God is made known through the church. The multifaceted wisdom of God is made known through the church. In a very real sense, you and I, those of you who are a part of a manual fellowship, are a part of the answer to the question.
[00:45:23] The church is a place whose doors are to be wide open for the messy, the broken, and the weary who need rest.
[00:45:33] The church is a place whose door is to be wide open for those who mourn and long for comfort, for those who feel worthless and wonder if God cares. The church's doors are to be opened for those who fail and desire strength. The church's doors are to be opened for those who sin and sin again and again, who are habitually sinners and need a savior. The church's doors are open for that. The church's doors to be open for those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. It is for these that the church, this church, Emanuel church, opens her doors. And where you and I open our supernaturally changed hearts and welcome these folks in the name of Jesus Christ.
[00:46:20] It is through the church we experience the hands and the feet of Jesus and experience the one another's of scripture, where we are built up in the faith. We are moved from the milk of the gospel, to the meat of the gospel, where we are encouraged and exhorted, and where the love of Jesus is poured out into us so that we may then go out and pour that love into a world around us.
[00:46:44] Just as our missionaries are doing, just as Christian is doing, so should we.
[00:46:52] Jesus says that it is by our love for one another that everyone will know we are his disciples.
[00:47:00] Have you embraced the family of God in a very specific way by being part of a local church? That's a challenge for you today, even those of you that are a part of a manual fellowship, because we can be a part of a church and not be a part of a church.
[00:47:16] I would submit that if you haven't, that you're going to continue to struggle to understand God's plan. You may grasp it intellectually, but you will not grasp it experientially.
[00:47:29] You will miss out on the very heart of God. So, does God have a plan to fix this messy and broken world? It's an emphatic, yes, for the reasons that I have stated. And I want to sum it up in Ephesians, chapter one, three verses, four verses from Ephesians, chapter one. This will not be on the screen. I'm going to ask you to close your eyes and just listen to this passage and listen to the heart of God and his plan for us, because it's laid out right here. Ephesians, chapter one goes like this. In him. In Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he richly poured out on us with all wisdom and understanding. He made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, that he purposed in Christ as a plan, as a plan for the right time to bring everything together in Christ, both things in heaven and things on earth in him.
[00:48:33] Let's pray.
[00:48:35] Father, thank you that you are a God, a God who loves us and has a plan, that you are uniting all things in Christ, and that we are encouraged and exhorted this morning by Paul. Father, we thank you to look forward to our future glory, but understand that it helps us make sense of the here and the now, help us to grasp the already of the gospel for those of us who believe it, and to look forward to the not yet. And, Father, for those that may be here or within range of my voice or maybe hear this or see this in the future, whether it's this week or ten years from now. Father, may your spirit awaken them to the gospel of Jesus Christ and save them.
[00:49:24] We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:49:29] As we respond today, I can think of no better way to respond than by celebrating the Lord's supper. So if you would like to celebrate with us this morning, and if you didn't grab one of the elements as you came in this morning, it's a little cup like this, has a wafer and some juice. Alan is going to be handing them out. If you need it, just raise your hand. He'll come around and he will give that to you.
[00:49:54] As we said, the effect of the fall. The effect of the fall of mankind. When sin entered into the world, when Adam and Eve rebelled against God, when they believed a lie, union was broken with God.
[00:50:11] What God once made whole because of our sinfulness, because of our poor decisions, because we believed the lie that Satan told us, our union with God was broken apart.
[00:50:26] We were separated from God.
[00:50:29] And what we celebrate in taking the Lord's supper, if you were a believer, is a celebration that that union has been made whole by Jesus Christ. And only in the ways of a good God can God himself endure the suffering and the pain and the messiness of a broken world and then endure the heinous reality of a roman cross and die in our place.
[00:50:58] The perfect savior, Jesus Christ, perfect man, perfect God. Holy God, walking this earth, dying in our place, that makes no sense to us. Yet as believers, that's what we believe.
[00:51:12] And we believe that this dead person rose again from the dead to put a final stamp and prove that he was God.
[00:51:21] Only a good God, only a good God, would come up with a plan like that to redeem mankind.
[00:51:30] And so we celebrate that by taking these elements, the wafer that represents the. The body of Jesus and the juice that represents his blood. And it's something that has been passed down to us for millennia. Paul says, I received from the Lord what I pass on to you. He's telling the church at Corinth, he says, on the night he was betrayed, jesus took the bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it. And he said, this is my body, which is for you.
[00:52:00] Do this in remembrance of me. Take and eat.
[00:52:12] When he had given thanks, in the same way, he took the cup, it was a cup of wine. We have a cup of juice, not even a cup, right?
[00:52:27] And he said, this is the new covenant in my blood. And he said, do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. And then he goes on to say, for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death. Until he comes in. Doing this, we are proclaiming the gospel. The good news that we are reunited with our God. Take and drink.
[00:52:56] Father, I trust that these truths today that are glorious truths, that are difficult truths that are glorious truths, Lord.
[00:53:06] I trust, Lord, that you will use them in our hearts.
[00:53:11] And I pray that you would, as only you can, very pointedly apply them to our lives. Each and every person here today, I pray that they heard what you wanted them to hear.
[00:53:25] And I pray that if anything I said was a block or an obstacle or was not clear, that through your holy spirit you would make that clear.
[00:53:35] Father, we love you and we thank you for this day to celebrate the gospel.
[00:53:41] As we continue to sing this good news, Lord, let us sing loudly and joyfully and rejoice in the hope that you have given us the assurance of our salvation and our future glory.
[00:53:56] With you and with Christ. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.
