God's Hope

It's been a difficult year. We could simply think of all the things that have happened in America this year. You had the shooting of a young man in St. Louis and the riots that followed. A young man opening fire in a church prayer meeting in Charleston. Recently, a man in Colorado opening fire on a Planned Parenthood. Shooting in Colorado. We had natural disasters. Parts of Columbia and much of the coast has been hit by a hurricane. People lost their homes. Many lives were lost. It's been a difficult year if you think about just America. We haven't mentioned Paris. Haven't even thought about or mentioned Syria as we think about all the difficult things. I'm thankful for that prayer because Ron listed off just a handful of the sicknesses and illnesses that this body is experiencing right now, much less the first 11 months of the year. And I want to say that there's nothing new under the sun. There's something wrong with this world. Suffering is real. It's present. Pain is abounding because it's not only just the physical suffering, there's real relationship difficulties. There's real emotional pain that we haven't even started to scratch the surface of. So this morning we're actually meditating on how we should think about suffering. And I want to give us a contrast as we think about this. It's always good to have a foil. I want to first read to you the modern man's hymn, Invictus. Out of the night that covers me, black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be for my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstances, I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under my bludgeoning of chance, my head is bloody but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath, and tears, looms but the horror of the shade, and yet the menace of the years finds and shall find me unafraid. It matters not how straight the gate, how charged with punishments the scroll. I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul. It's a powerful hymn. It's a powerful modern man's declaration of how he's going to be unconquerable, how he's the master, how he's the captain, how he's going to have victory. Now let me contrast that by pointing us back to Psalm 13. How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? Consider the answer and answer me, Lord, my God. Light up my eyes lest I sleep of death. Lest my enemy says I have prevailed over him. Let my foes rejoice. Lest my foes rejoice because I'm shaken. but I have trusted in your steadfast love. My heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord because he has dealt bountifully with me. Well, there's two primary contrasts. Invictus says, I think, whatever gods may be, our psalmist knows who the Lord is. the one true God, the God who was created, the God who is the God of salvation, the God who is Yahweh, who has committed himself to save a people. And that's why it's a different kind of declaration. Our modern-day hymn, which trusts in our strength, looks to how our souls are unconquerable. Whereas the man who has been called by God and saved by God knows he is weak. knows he must call upon God in despair, knowing that only, the only help that truly comes, comes from outside. As we think about suffering this morning, we need to keep these two things in contrast because we naturally tend to be like the invictus. We naturally want to pull up our bootstraps and try to figure out how we're going to endure, how we can keep fighting in our own strength. And thankfully, God has sent His Spirit inside of our hearts so that we are constantly reminded by the groanings of the Holy Spirit that we should be groaning for redemption. Today we're continuing in Romans 8. If you're new with us this morning, we've been walking through Romans 8 for the last few weeks. It's found on page 944 if you're using a Pew Bible. If you don't have a Bible, we would love for you to take that home with you. It contains the words of life that lets you know the one true God who can save you. Romans 8, and we've been in Romans. If we go back to Romans 1, Paul is proclaiming the gospel to the church. I am not ashamed of the gospel. It is the power of God for salvation. We've seen how sinful we are. We've seen how gracious God is. We've seen that He declares sinners righteous. Romans 8, if you look at the very first verse, 8.1, there's no condemnation. If you look at the end, nothing can separate us from the love of God. Now we're in the middle. There's no defeat. There's no condemnation, there's no defeat, there's no separation. This is a great declaration of victory that we as Christians must believe in and live out. Romans 8 is a great declaration of the victory that we have in Christ by the power of the Spirit. As we saw, Christ came to condemn sin for us so that we would not be condemned in our sin. He's now sent the Holy Spirit. 8.11 is just a very powerful voice of a verse. The same power that raised Christ from the dead dwells within us. That's why we have confidence in the victory. Then we saw last week that the Holy Spirit, He's crying out. He helps us cry out, Abba Father. And now we're going to look at the groaning of creation, the groaning of the Holy Spirit, and our own groaning for help. If you look in the bulletin, you should see an outline there. We're called to persevere in present sufferings with expectancy, with all of creation, with hope, with help from the Spirit, and with confidence in God's work. Let me read our passage, and I'm gonna begin in verse 18. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subject to fertility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit, grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption of sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We don't know what to pray for as we ought. But the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And 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. We know that those who love God, we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. For those who are called according to his purpose, For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined, he also called, and those whom he called, he also justified, and those whom he justified, he also glorified. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you that you have given us such a powerful word so that we might have hope beyond what we see, because what we see is scary. when we truly look at this world and what's going on and how evil all of those around us are, when we actually see how evil we are, how we have anger that can lead to these same kinds of murders, same kind of violence. Lord, it's a scary world, and it's not the way you intended it, and we praise you that you have not left it. to decay. You've not left us just to death and to judgment. Father, you've declared your love by sending your son to become like us, to save us. You sent your spirit to apply all that he has done to our hearts so that we may have a new life in him. And I pray that as we open up these words that you would give us hope in suffering. You would give us comfort in suffering. You would call us out of, Desire for only comfort and casual living in this world. And you would help us to see the battle that's waging. You would help us to live victoriously in Christ. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. The first thing we need to see about persevering is that we persevere in the present suffering with expectancy. Let me actually go back and read 16 and 17. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him, in order that we may also be glorified with him. Now, we talked about how the declaration of adoption, that means we get an inheritance. Christ, the true Son, has come so that we might be adopted as his brothers. into His inheritance. He's come to share His life with us. And verse 17 is, it's the first we need to think about. Provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him. Paul is showing the importance of suffering. He's showing the necessity of suffering. Christians suffer. Verse 18, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. So one of the first things we need to realize and contemplate is we're heirs. We have an inheritance. Now usually you get an inheritance when your parents die or when a loved one dies. You gain something from them and here we, We gain an inheritance because Christ died. We weren't naturally connected to him, but he said, I'm going to love that sinner. I'm going to connect myself with that sinner, and I'm going to declare him my brother, my sister. He gives us his inheritance. Now, in the Old Testament, inheritance was extremely important. It had to do with land, and land represents a number of very important things. First, life. protection, provision. You had to have land. You had to be connected to a land to have longevity, belonging. We as believers, we're looking for something so much better. Because what we receive is life and love. Something that gives us much more belonging. Something that gives us much more longevity. Something that gives us much more safety, and that is God himself saying, I am declaring to you, I am your father. I am going to look after you. I am going to provide for you. You're actually in a land that isn't yours. You're a wandering alien, but my eye is upon you and my hand is upon you. I love you and will give you everything you need and will always be with you. I, Almighty God, am for you. Nothing can separate us. I am your inheritance. That's the beauty of the inheritance we receive. Something we don't necessarily see. It'd be nice to walk around the land and mark it off and feel it. That's not really hope though, is it? Now we're hoping, for something in the future that we're experiencing right now. And so I want to say this inheritance, there's an already not yet aspect to it. We have an inheritance now that says we can fight against sin. The Holy Spirit is here to remind us constantly God is our Father, He loves us. If you question He loves you, this is what Christmas is all about. The Son came to die for us. If we really think about that, we can't question His love. The inheritance to come is so much better than we even have now. So the inheritance we're actually really looking forward to, we will be without sin. That's the biggest problem right now with us and everything in the world is our sin. You see, we were all created. to worship God, to know God, to know His love, and the one thing that keeps us from really knowing Him is the sin that continues to linger. Yes, the power of sin's been broken, but sin's still present. Sin is ever present, and so we're longing for when that day comes, when sin will no longer be present, which allows me to see God in His glory, to know His full embrace of love. Because you may think, oh, I know God loves me, Wait till sin's removed. No, I've seen the glory of God. Wait till sin's removed. And that which is keeping your eyes from truly seeing the glory of God, that which is keeping your heart from truly embracing the love of God, it'll be removed. No more sin. No more temptation. Yes, God has removed the power of sin, the penalty of sin, but its presence keeps us from truly enjoying the inheritance Christ died for us. You know, no more death. Death is painful. No more decay. No more breaking down of the body. No more growing old. We wait for this. We seek to live in it, in the reality of it now, and we're waiting. And all that to get us to verse 18. I consider. Paul, he's calculating again, right? I am recalculating. I'm considering the sufferings of this present time that are not worth comparing with the glory. The glory regain is worth the suffering. How much burden I feel like I'm having to carry and walk through and fight through, it's not even worth thinking about how bad it is because I know what waits for me is so good. We will continue. to persevere through the decay, through the death, through the sickness, through the sin. The sin that continues to rage against us, to pull us away from God, we will continue to persevere, knowing that what waits is better. And again, we've gotta go back to verse 17. Provided we suffer with him, in order that we may also be glorified with him. Christians, something we need to always remember is that suffering is sacred to us. Suffering is sacred. We are only alive because Christ suffered for us. We only have hope because Christ suffered for us. Suffering has a sacred aspect because Almighty God came down to suffer as if a sinner for us sinners. Suffering has to be something we don't want to avoid it, to ignore it. No, we want to think about suffering. We want to think about the cross. Because it's in His suffering on the cross that we truly see glory. If you really want to see glory, it's in the suffering of Jesus Christ on the cross. God revealing Himself in His love for us. Now if you're not a Christian this morning, I'm assuming you know people who are suffering, you've gone through suffering. I have to tell you, there is a greater suffering ahead that is great. That'll be overwhelming. See, when a sinner stands before God, which is the ultimate end of everyone, if we stand there without Christ, we suffer. because all of our sin is actually standing in the presence of God's glory without grace. And that sin is overwhelmed with God's glory and holiness, and it will bring great eternal suffering. The end for anyone who does not believe in Jesus Christ is eternal suffering. That's why Christ came to suffer. You see, all the suffering that we were supposed to, if we got what we deserved, all the suffering for those who believe in Christ, Christ suffered for them. He died and took the penalty of sin on himself so that we don't have to suffer. If you're not a Christian this morning, you will suffer unless you believe in Jesus and that he suffered for you. Christian, This is the core to our identity. Christ suffered for us. Suffering gives life. We should actually think about suffering, it gives life because suffering, it actually squeezes out all that sin that causes death and it helps us to see it so we can repent of it and say, Christ, take this away from me, Holy Spirit, give me the grace to fight against it. We shouldn't be surprised at suffering. Because our Savior was beaten, mocked, and nailed to a cross, we should long to see, God, how are you going to use suffering? A basic principle is this. God uses suffering to bring life. Like an athlete who's hurt. That's suffering. He plays through the pain because he wants the glory at the end. We are supposed to endure suffering, Knowing that what awaits is worth it. You can't even compare how painful the suffering is compared to what's going to await. Now, let me just walk through a few complications with how we persevere. I fear that sometimes we let little scratches take us to the sideline. As Christians, we sometimes let little bitty nicks, little bitty scratches derail us to the point where we wanna go on the sideline and we wanna stop persevering. We have to be careful not to want to milk an injury for the purpose of sin. We must continue to persevere. I think the bigger problem is this. We actually don't realize what we're doing. We don't realize we're in a battle. Remember, this is a battleground, not a playground. And we get so distracted by the playground equipment. We stop persevering. We stop fighting. We try to find comfort in some kind of pleasure or luxury. I also want to be very sympathetic. There are real injuries. There are real injuries, and those injuries God wants to use to bring life. Paul knew real injury. He was persecuted. He was beaten. But if you actually look at his letters, he mentions that as confirmation as to why he's an apostle, or his apostleship is true, but if you look at his letters, he talks about the injuries that people from within the church put upon him more. Read the pastoral epistles and how he talks about how people within the church brought the injuries, how he felt abandoned by certain individuals, by how some forsook the faith. These are sometimes the most difficult injuries, the ones that we have from relationships. Paul in 2 Corinthians 4 gives a great declaration. We're afflicted, not crushed. Perplexed, not driven to despair. Persecuted, not forsaken. Struck down, not destroyed. We should not be surprised by suffering. There's so many enemies wanting to trip us up. But we should be ready to battle because the victory is sure, because Christ has won it, because He's given us His Spirit to apply that victorious power to ourselves. But here's what we need. Well, I said Paul, I think some of those difficult things he faced was actually Christian brothers and sisters who abandoned him and hurt him. Friendly fire hurts the worst. I think the way we actually persevere is to make sure we remain with a band of brothers and sisters who are committed to reminding us there's grace that heals. There's a glory awaiting. We need to have brothers and sisters all around us that remind us this suffering is not worth comparing to the glory that is to be revealed. We should expect suffering now and glory later. The problem is this. We live like glory is now. We live like heaven must be less glorious in this life. You know, we talk about the prosperity gospel a lot. That lie that everything you want should be yours and if you just prayed right or if you just lived right, God would give you everything you want. It's a lie. But don't we all live like that? There's a little prosperity gospel in us all. There's something in all of us that thinks, no, right now I should be more I should be living more comfortably. I want more convenience. I want more stuff. I want something better. Why is God not giving me all that I want? Because He loves you. We have to realize we're always longing for something, and if it's not that glorious life He has caught us to, it's sin. Second point in perseverance. Persevere in the present suffering with all of creation. Persevere in present suffering with all of creation. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. We just sang this on Holy Night. The thrill of hope. The weary world rejoices. The Creator has come. A young man has come. The new Adam to put creation back. new and glorious more. For the creation was subject to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now." So Paul is given this great declaration. The glory. You can't even compare the present suffering with the glory. And let me just kind of back up and show you, all of creation is longing for this. He calls us to persevere and says, all creation is longing for the same thing we're longing for. Now you have to remember that God created everything good. He put in place a manager of creation that was Adam and Eve. Those managers are supposed to make sure that they implemented God's rule and order in creation, but what actually happened is the one that God put over creation decided that he didn't want to listen to God anymore. So the Father, I believe, is the one who subjected creation into this bondage by putting us in charge of it. So that He could show how glorious He is when He puts it back. in its proper place. Creation was subjected to futility because we refused to obey God. He is sovereign, he designed this creation so that the Adam and Eve, who were supposed to be managing it, they put it in chaos. They've introduced chaos and sin. Now notice verse 21. The creation itself will be set free from corruption. Creation, which was corrupted in Adam, will one day be under new management. Jesus Christ, the new Adam, He's come to bring new management. He has adopted us to be new Adams so that we bring new management. Creation is longing to be put back in order so that all things are once again moving and flowing and functioning so that once again, worshiping and following God's design. Now it's important to remember that this world is full of sin because we sinned. All the hurricanes, the earthquakes, the natural disasters, that's part of the fall. That's part of that futility that isn't the way it's supposed to be, the natural disasters, the death of loved ones. Creation is testifying to us by groaning out This is not the way it's supposed to be. We're looking for something different. A great phrase from a theologian is that this creation, it's a glorious ruin. It's a glorious ruin. Because we can actually go out and we can see God's order still in place. We can see His fingerprint of beauty on creation. We see how sin has tainted it, how it's brought decay and destruction. When we think about creation, you can see the two truths. It's glorious because it's God's, and it's ruined because He put us in charge. Creation is a glorious ruin. Three applications as we think about creation. First, be careful to think that we're supposed to be redeeming this place to be our final home. We're strangers here. We're aliens. This is not our home anymore, because we have a new citizenship. And we're waiting, just like all of creation's waiting, for the one who really puts things back in order, and that's God. Christ is going to crush his enemies. We need to be careful in thinking, I'm going to make this place as if it's my final home. No, this isn't. Secondly, we need to realize we're managers. We are supposed to be managing this world, not abusing it. We have to realize that God's order, the biblical mandate to exercise God's dominion here, we should and continue to do that. Now let me be very clear. Being an environmentalist is not a political issue. Being a steward of what God has put us in charge of, that's a theological issue. We're in the realm of Christianity, not politics, when we think about stewardship. Managing this creation is stewardship. We're pro-creation because we're pro-Creator. We should realize, and I'm not explaining this as a political issue, this is a call of God for us. Thirdly, we need to long for the new creation. Yes, we have responsibilities, but everything we try to do here is so frustrated by the fall. Just plant a garden in the spring and you'll feel the full weight of that. It's always frustrating. We're longing for a new home that will be put back into proper order. The third thing we see about persevering in the present suffering as we do it with hope We do it with hope. Look at verse 23. Not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, we groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption of sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved, now hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what he sees? If we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Paul moves from creation groaning to we ourselves, believers, the first fruits of the Spirit, the first believers. Paul is in the first generation of believers who have the Spirit. We're supposed to be expectant with hope. We're supposed to be expectantly hoping, which means we're patiently waiting. First, we have to see that the Spirit does something for us. We who have the Spirit, we groan inwardly, waiting eagerly. The Spirit is constantly reminding us that we should be uncomfortable. We should be uncomfortable here. We groan because this isn't the way it's supposed to be. There's still sin, there's still death, there's still decay, there's still problems and sin. We should be uncomfortable. Groaning is an act of faith because the Holy Spirit is stirring within us a groaning for something better. God's not done yet. Grumbling is an act of doubt. Grumbling says, God, you could be doing better for me right now. Grumbling is us thinking, right now, I should be receiving all the glory. God, you could be doing better. Groaning is saying, God, I can't wait for what you have next. We need to make sure we have those two things straight, because I think sometimes we call grumbling groaning. Groaning is an act of faith that says, come, Lord Jesus, come quickly, because I long for what awaits. Grumbling says, Give me what I want now. Again, we're supposed to be these resident aliens, an inward eagerness. And notice they're eagerly awaiting the adoption of sons, the redemption of our bodies. Now, if you're a believer in Christ, you are adopted. The legal papers have been signed and sealed. But we're not yet quite experiencing every benefit of being an adopted son. We're still here, groaning eagerly for what's going to come when sin's removed, when death is removed, for that new glorified body. So yes, we're here in our position, but we're persevering, waiting for what's next. So what's wrong with us right now? One, we're wearing down. We're getting old. The body decays, that's what it does. More so, we're hindered by sin. We do not get to see the full glory of God. Verse 24 and 25, we're supposed to be waiting and hoping for that which, that adoption, that bringing into the family where we no longer are kept from the Father because of our sin. Feeling the full embrace of his love, eating at the table with all the brothers and sisters, with Christ, the big brother, the chief shepherd. Verse 24 and 25, we don't see this yet. We're supposed to be hoping Waiting with patience. Now, I'm thankful this passage shows up in Advent, because Advent's about one thing, and it's waiting. So if you're going through an Advent calendar, if you're going through some kind of an Advent devotional, Advent, first and foremost, is about waiting. Now, here's the difficulty with Advent. You're supposed to jam in three or four weeks what God decided he was gonna make his people wait on for thousands of years. It's really hard to capture the full effect. But what you get to do is show how God, He put these promises in place. He gives little glimpses of what's gonna come. And we get to see, wow, this God has been in control. Our God has been in control, and what He's promised, He has fulfilled. But it's about waiting. Now the problem is, are we too busy running around, doing all the different things that are Christmas-like, than really thinking about, all right, what does it mean to wait? We don't wait well. Waiting really isn't a virtue for most people. No one really likes waiting. We want what we want when we want it. That's why patience is a fruit of the Spirit. It doesn't come very naturally. See, waiting means we're not going to receive everything we want when we want it. Patient waiting says, I am willing to suffer because I know that the God who has suffered for me will bring about a greater glory. We wait. We groan. Some things we should do in this passage. We should ask ourselves, what am I really groaning for? What do I long for? Because there's something about what we're always thinking about. If we only had this, if I hope this happens. Whatever that is, that could be identified as an idol. What we're constantly groaning for, that could be our idol. Our grumbling and our groaning, it's a helpful idol detector. Now we're supposed to be longing for heaven. We're supposed to be eagerly waiting. A couple applications as to how you can do this. First, be with others who long for heaven. Sadly, it's actually hard to find Christians, I think, that are really longing for heaven. The nursing home's a great place to start. One of those dear saints who's so fed up with that decaying body, they're saying, Jesus, why haven't you taken me now? Be around someone who's facing death and facing it in light of the cross in the hope of the resurrection who says, this world really has nothing for me anymore. There's nothing sweeter than being with a saint who realizes this life is over, I'm ready. How glorious it would be if we could only adopt that not on our deathbed. Be with those who long for heaven. Second, pray that we would see this world as it is, full of sin, my heart as it is, full of sin, so that we would constantly see how sin is seeking to destroy us, and we would say, come Lord Jesus, come quickly. We can include our Lord's Supper with that, so that we're constantly teaching we want something better than what we have right now. We want the full promises of Christ. Third, think about the glory to come. I realize most people don't like school as much as I do, but I'm gonna give you a school-like assignment. Heaven's important. Everything we're hearing from Paul is the glory to come should be motivating you, should be changing you. I wanna challenge you. Can you write 1,000 words about heaven without using the word very? It's very, very, very, very good. Okay, that doesn't count. It's very, very, very, very long. Can you write a thousand substantive words about what you're going to be doing forever? We don't live now like we ought to because we don't actually know what's waiting. Do we actually have a vision for where we're going and what we're longing for because that's why Paul is able to say, I'm persevering in present sufferings because I know what's coming is better. Do we actually know it's better? The fourth point, the fourth way in which we suffer with the help of the Spirit. Likewise, 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. And 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. Verse 26 makes a very profound statement. We have help. We have help. Now before we can actually really appreciate that, we need to see we need help. We need to repent of our invictus. We need to repent of believing we are an unconquerable soul and the captain of my own destiny. We need help. We have help. The Spirit Himself is groaning. Groaning too deep for words, verse 26. Notice, creation's groaning. We ourselves are groaning, being filled by the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is groaning. There's three witnesses. It's not the way it's supposed to be. Remember from the Gospel of John, Christ is giving his final discourse, and he calls the Spirit another helper. Christ is our first helper. The Son who came down and took upon flesh to die for us, to take away the penalty of sin and the power of sin, rose again. Now He sent another helper. That helper lives within us. He's here to help. We need help. And we saw in Romans 8-11 that the help we have is the same power of the resurrection. Friends, we have to have certainty that this help is sufficient. How certain are you? that the help is sufficient. Now he mentions a very specific weakness. Verse 26, for we do not know what to pray for as we ought. We talked about last week what a unique opportunity it is for Christians to get to call God Father in prayer. We get to go to a loving Father in prayer, what a great opportunity and responsibility to pray and hear Paul saying, we do not know what to pray for as we ought. That's part of our weakness. This is the beauty of it. The Spirit dwells within us to help us at the most inner core of our being. Everything we need, God is providing. Prayer is the most natural and necessary and normal action of Christians. The problem is it's difficult. Prayer is difficult because it's changing the way we think. It's changing the way we live. Now, sometimes we think of prayer as making a lot of requests. If your prayer resembles a letter to Santa Claus, I'm not sure you're doing it right. And I say that because my prayers have sounded like a Santa Claus list. I want this and this and this and this and this. Prayer's a conversation. Prayer's an opportunity to actually hear from God and talk to God. Prayer's an opportunity to lay down before God, here's my will, what is your will? May your will be done. God, am I asking the right questions? Because sometimes we may pray, God, I've got a problem with so and so, could you fix their attitude? And God says, I think we've got another problem that we can actually fix right here. Let's think about your attitude. We do not pray as we ought. We should be praying, Father, who are in heaven, let your will be done. And when we're not, the Holy Spirit is praying for us. He's helping us. He gets to the core of our problem. The Father, now this is nice, we need to see this. He who searches hearts, that's referring to the Father. The Father's not out in distance. He's searching. He's present. He loves you. The one who's searching hearts, He is listening to the Spirit who's interceding for us. Christ, our mediator, stands at the right hand of the Father to declare, this one's mine. The Spirit is within us, crying out to the Father, this is what he needs. That's why we have confidence. God is doing for us all we need. That's why we have confidence. Finally, let's look at verses 28 through 30. We'll come back to these next week We'll begin next week with verses 28 and 30. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. For those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom He predestined, He also called. And those whom He called, He also justified. And those whom He justified, He also glorified. Notice here, forenew, predestined, called, justified, glorified. This passage has been labeled the golden chain. I believe that's a very important picture for what this is because what he's saying is if he did one, he's going to do it all. God doesn't leave a job half done. He who began a good work in you, he will complete it. That's the short version of this. This is fleshing out that declaration. He who began a work, he'll complete it. God doesn't avoid commitment and responsibility when he makes a promise. He finishes a job. God is committed and able to finish the job. It's a beautiful, comforting declaration for those who love God that all things work because He's doing everything for you. Look at all the things He's done for you. How can you not trust Him? So I love that imagery of a golden chain. You're wrestling through suffering. You can see, no, He who called, and He who foreknew, and He who predestined, He's with me, He's for me. He finishes the job. Another picture I would like for you is to think about with this passage, and we'll come back to this next week. This is a fortress. Brothers and sisters, this is a fortress. Christ, the foundation, and then all of these, these are just blessings that we have in Christ. One wall is forenew, another wall predestined, another wall called, another wall justified, and above us, the roof, glorify. This is your fortress. When you are loving God and living here, When you're seeing this is who I am, this is what God's done for me, when I'm living here, whatever that wind comes, it doesn't blow me. It doesn't toss me. Whatever trial comes, I am unmovable, I am unconquerable, not because of my own power, but because this fortress is so strong. It's impenetrable. Because God has said, this is the one whom I've loved. I've sent my son to be his foundation. All of these declarations, these are his. And when I'm loving God, I'm putting myself in the middle of that fortress and nothing shakes me. Sad truth is this. We get curious about what's going outside, don't we? The safety of that fortress is the great protection that keeps us from being tossed. We get curious. We take a step outside. And that's when we get tossed. We stop believing in the promises of God. We stop seeing ourselves as a child of God. We stop realizing we've been thrown on. We've been predestined. We've been loved. We've been adopted. We've been justified. These aren't just big fancy words for us. This is our fortress that protects us. This is why we're confident. Because of what Christ has given to us. and promised us. This is why we persevere, because God has worked for us. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you for all you've done. You've done more than we could ever know. We can only count a fraction of the blessings you give us every day, and we take so much for granted. Lord, help us to never forget this identity. Help us to never forget this great fortress. Help us to never forget and to not meditate upon that glory that awaits us. Lord, for those who are suffering, may they be comforted today that you are the God who loves and cares and comforts. We pray that you would use the rest of us. to either recognize the suffering that should be seen as a way of sanctifying us or use us as ways of coming alongside these brothers and sisters and loving them and caring for them. Help us to remind one another of the resurrection and the power of the spirit that lives within us. Lord, may we have great confidence because of what Christ has done for us and will finish in us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.