Sunday English Service – 23 AUG 22

Transcript

Let’s go to the Word of God. Please turn with me to Romans, chapter 8. We’ve been teaching on redemption, in a series called,‘Redeemed’. And in order to understand redemption, we went into the book of Romans. Romans is a wonderful epistle, where the apostle Paul gives a wonderful teaching on this whole Christian salvation doctrine.

The first eight chapters are amazing chapters, where he expounds on the truth of the Gospel. And there, he presents this redemption in all of its facets. He presents it as something that has already happened, something that is happening presently, as well as something that is going to come because that’s the way the Bible teaches it. It has already happened because justification is something that has already happened. In Romans chapter 3 and 4, he teaches that, how God justifies the sinner. The moment you put your faith in Jesus, God bestows upon you the righteousness of Christ. It doesn’t mean that you all of a sudden become so righteous and so good. It just means that you’ve been given Christ’s righteousness.Now, God sees you endowed with Christ’s righteousness, clothed with the robe of righteousness. He doesn’t see your sin. He sees you and accepts you. Now, you can have a relationship with God, come close to God and become a member of God’s family, become a child of God.

So, the moment you put your faith in Christ, that is accomplished, that is called justification. That is where a sinner is made righteous, just by bestowing righteousness upon the sinner. But then, salvation, that is ongoing presently. See, that was passed, but there is an ongoing salvation which is happening presently. And that is, in justification what happened was, your sins were forgiven. You’re freed from the penalty of sin. But now, in the ongoing salvation, which is happening right now, every day, throughout your life. What is happening is, you’re freed from the power of sin. You’re able to live victoriously over sin because God, by His grace and by the power of the Holy Spirit, helps you to live every day as you trust in Him and walk with Him, helps you to live victoriously over sin.That, we call sanctification.

So, justification is the past, sanctification is an ongoing thing in the present. And now, we are into glorification, which is a salvation that is going to happen in the future. That is how the Bible teaches salvation. That is why we read in one place we have been redeemed. And it is true, we have been redeemed. But you read in another place where Jesus says,“When all these signs happen, look up, for your redemption draweth nigh.”In other words,He’s saying, your redemption is very close. It’s going to happen.Well, has it happened or is it going to happen? Both are true. It has happened in a certain way and it is going to happen in a certain way. We’re talking right now about the going to happen part of it. The glorification, which is yet to happen. It will happen when Christ comes in His glory. We will enter into that glory that has been reserved for us, where our body will be transformed into the glorious body, undying body. Death will be done away with. A new world will be established—a new heaven and a new earth, where there’ll be no more deaths. Well, the last enemy, death, is completely done away with and we’ll receive our bodily redemption, where all the results of sin that came upon our body, the day Adam sinned. All those results are done away with. The body is completely redeemed. It becomes an undying body. And that is what we’re going to talk about today.

Last week, we talked about the redemption of the creation, which is also coming thing and it comes along with this thing, the redemption of our body. When the redemption of our body happens, the redemption of creation also happens.We saw that. Today, we’re going to talk about the redemption of the body itself, what’s going to happen to the body in the end.We talked about redemption of the body in so many ways, even when we get healed today, trusting in Jesus, and going to God for healing, when we receive healing, that is as a result of redemption. But no matter how many times we get healed and availed that blessing, still, we die in the end. Death has not been done away with. So, bodily redemption is complete only when death in the body is done away with because that is the ultimate result of sin upon the body. So, we’ll talk about them bodily redemption — redemption of the body, today.

Please turn with me to Romans, chapter 8 and I want to read you from verse 22 to 25. Romans 8:22 to 25 and I’m reading from NKJV – New King James Version.For we know that the whole creation groans and labours with birth pangs together until now.That’s what we talked about last week. The creation groaning labels with birth pangs, waiting for that thing to happen, for the redemption of the creation to happen, right?But look at verse 23:Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.

Now, we talked about the groaning that happens. He talks about how the creation is groaning. I don’t know how a tree will groan, mountains will groan, how that kind of creation will groan. I think Paul is trying to simply personify creation, talks about creation as if it’s a human being groaning. He says it’s experiencing a groaning, waiting for the redemption to happen. And then, in verse 23, he says,“We also have received the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan.” Now, he’s coming to the redemption of our body. We, as human beings, how our body is going to be redeemed and again, he uses the word ‘groan’. “Creation is groaning; we also groan”,he says.That’s a very interesting word. The thing about that word is here, when it says,“We also groan”,he’s referring to a Christian groaning. A groaning that is peculiar to Christians; a groaning which is peculiar in the Christian experience.

I know that even people in the world that are not Christians, that are not believers, experience a kind of groaning because every time you see somebody die, every time you see somebody suffering from illnesses, battling with sickness, battling with death, you know, you wish that there will come a day when you will get out of this mess. There will come a day when death will be no more,where men don’t have to die. Everybody wishes that; everybody in that way groans. The entire human race has experienced that kind of groaning but this groaning that he talks about, he particularly says,“We also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit” – he’s referring to the Christians. We groan. The ones who have received the firstfruits of the Spirit, we groan. So, it is referring to a particularly Christian experience.

Now, we need to see two things about this groaning if we are to understand these verses. The first thing is, it is not a groaning that everybody experiences, like I said just now, when death comes or when sickness comes and so on. It is particularly a Christian type of groaning. Why do we say it’s particularly a Christian type of groaning?Not only because it says here that we have received the firstfruits of the Spirit,but that also immediately understand he’s pointing to the Christians. He’s talking to the Christians. But not only that, there’s another reason for why we say that is a particularly Christian groaning because Christians grieve the very presence of sin. You know, as you grow in the Lord as you come into the salvation, and you get your sins forgiven, when you come into a relationship with God, as you walk with God, the more you get closer to God, the more you walk with God, the more you love God and serve God, the more you begin to hate, the very presence of sin. Maybe you’re not sinning, you’ve been forgiven of your sins, you have come to God through Christ. Everything is alright with you, but the very presence of sin around you. We live in a world of sin. Sin is everywhere. And sin is also coming and confronting us, coming and challenging us, coming in tempting us, trying to draw us. It is always a distraction in a Christian’s life. He always has to face it and he’s always having to overcome it. And the Christians, true believers hate sin. They don’t want to see it. So, they grieve for sin, increasingly as a grow Christ. They grieve over the very presence of sin – see, we’ve been freed from the penalty of sin, the moment we believe in Christ. We are freed from the power of sin as we live our life victoriously, over sin but we are still yet to be made free from the very presence of sin. It’s the presence of sin but we hate.We wish that we could live without sin.

And also, Christians groan in another way also because they face persecutions. It was very real to Paul because he faced a lot of persecution. In 2^nd Corinthians, chapter 11,he gives a big list of all the things that he suffered for the sake of Christ and His gospel. So, when you face a lot of persecution, he received 39 stripes, five times. That’s the maximum stripe anybody can receive under the Roman law. He has received it five times, just imagine 39 stripes. According to the Roman law, just one time is enough to just make your whole body be wounded everywhere but five times he was beaten. He was thrown in jail so many times, hands and legs put on chains. He’s gone through a lot. He’s gone through persecution from Jews, persecution from Gentiles. But through all of that, he knows that everyone that puts their faith in Christ somehow is hated because the world hatred Jesus and put Him on the Cross and persecuted Him. We share in His sufferings. That’s what he writes here. We go through the same kind of sufferings, and Christians groan as a result of those persecution suffered for the sake of their life and witness. And this is also something different from the non-Christian experience. Non-Christians don’t experience that kind of groaning. They may groan when death comes, or sickness comes but they don’t groan, this type of groaning.The type of groaning which we groan like groaning, grieving for sin and groaning as a result of persecutions that we suffer for the sake of the life and witness that we bear for Jesus.So, that is one reason.

The second reason is this. The groaning of Christians is not the mere grief that is suffered or mere grief over what we just mentioned, grieving over sin and so on or persecution. It is a joyous grief, in a way. It is a grief with an expectation of something good to happen. It is an expectation that all these things that cause pain and suffering to us will be removed, and salvation will somehow be consummated; salvation will be completed. The third stage of salvation will happen where salvation which began with the forgiveness of sin will get completed one day. It’s a joyful grief that gives birth to the hope and the patient endurance. And the passage that we just read, it talks about that. Verse 25 talks about the patient endurance. Verse 24 talks about the hope.It produces this hope and patient endurance that something good is going to happen. The joyful kind of groaning. It’s groaning but it’s not a negative thing. It’s a positive thing. It’s something good is going to happen. You can’t just wait for it to happen. You want to see it happen. There in an eager expectation of that happening.

Now, look at how it is described in the case of creation, in verse 22. We read it like this:For we know that the whole creation groans and labours with birth pangs together until now.It is described as a “birth pang”. And then, it says, not only that, but we also groan.So, just like the creation groans, we also groan.So, the description of that groaning being like the birth pang is something that goes for the groaning that happens in us also.We also groan in the same way, that’s what it’s saying. So, the birth pang should be applied here also. Our groaning is also like the birth pang. Birth pang is the pain that the woman experiences at childbirth. That pain is real.

I remember when we had the first child, I admitted my wife in the hospital.I was there with her but I had to run out of the hospital because there was another woman giving birth and she was making such a noise, screaming on top of your voice because of the unbearable pain. I’d never been in a place like that. So, I simply ran out of the place,came, and stood outside in the compound. I could hear it all the way. And so, I went and stood in the street for some time because that was so disturbing. I never thought that birth pain was that kind of pain. She was screaming on top of her voice. Never forget that experience. It is something very real. It’s real pains, very severe pains but one thing good about it, it’s not the endless pain. They only last for a time, that’s the birth pang.So, that is the good thing about it. And the woman who goes through that pain, even though she’s screaming on top of her voice, in her heart, willing to go through it because she has a joyous expectation of giving birth to a child. Therefore, she is ready to put up with it. Yeah, she’s suffering very much. She’s in pain but because of that expectation, that expectation of seeing the face of the child, getting the child is such a joyous experience. She’s ready to put up with this pain. The pain, thank God, doesn’t last for long. The pain comes and very soon, the child comes also. And when the child comes, the pain stops. And then, you should see the face of that woman. It will be bright and it will be joyful. It brings a great deal of happiness to her.

Now, our groaning for the bodily redemption to come, our body to become an undying body, our body to be rid of all pain and suffering, our body to be redeemed, is like a birth pang pain, the Bible says. In other words, it’s a joyful expectation. It is not something negative. We believe it. We hope for it. We hope and patiently wait for it, as the Bible says.We’re ready to put up with all kinds of trouble in order to experience the joy of entering into that glory and glorious body and so on.

Now, Paul says this in a particular background. If you look at chapter 8, in the first portion of chapter 8, we are in the second portion of chapter 8. The first portion of chapter 8 is about how the Christian can have the assurance that he will be kept in the salvation by the love and by the power of the Holy Spirit, that God by His power and love will keep the believer safe until the end. That’s what he’s trying to assure to the believer in chapter 8, in the first part. So, he goes through a big explanation about who is a truly safe believer and who is not a believer. There is no assumption here. Nobody can assume that they are a believer. He gives a sure explanation of who a believer is and who is not a believer.He gives four proofs of who a believer is and how you can tell that someone is a believer.

The first thing is that true believers live for Christ. Their life shows that they are true believers. If they’re believers, they will be able to live for Christ. You see that in some verses. Let me just take the time to read a few verses for you. Look at the first verse:There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. He’s talking about people who are not walking or living according to the flesh but living according to the Spirit. And then, look at verse 5:For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. In other words, he says those who do not know salvation, have not experienced this forgiveness of sin, this redemption, this justification, they cannot please God. They cannot do what God says. Their mind is an enmity against God. It is not subject to the laws of God; it is not able to obey the laws of God and walk by the laws of God and so on. And so, you can either be a believer in this way, that he is not perfect, of course, but there is a big change in him. He is a man that loves the laws of God, wants to live by God’s Word. He’s got a spiritual mind, his thinking and his mind and his actions show that he is a spiritual person. That’s the first thing. So, a true believer is one who will live for Christ.

The second is that all true Christians have an internal sense of being members of God’s family. They know in their hearts that they are children of God. You see that in verse 9 and 10. It says, But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.Then look at verse 14 and 15:For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”See, the Christian cries out,“Abba, Father!” It’s something that comes naturally to him. Just like a child, does not have to go to university to learn to call the father,“father” or mother,“mother”. It comes instinctively. Just like that, this believer is given the Spirit of adoption whereby he cries “Abba, Father!”That’s the sign that he is a child of God. He will not be all perfect and so on, but he cries “Abba, Father!”There is some definite change in his life. He walks by the Word of God. He calls him,“Abba, Father”.

Thirdly, in verse 16, we read: The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. Apart from him having a sense that he is a child of God, there is also the witness of the Spirit that is in him, telling him that he’s a child of God. That’s wonderful. The Spirit of God is telling him constantly that he is a child of God.

The fourth thing is very interesting because that is what leads to what we’re talking about now. The fourth thing is that he experiences some suffering because of his faith in Christ. He’s different from this world; he’s different from everyone around. See, in this world if you’re different, you will experience some trouble. That is where persecution starts. Who do you think you are? How do you think you’re so special? Trouble can start in the family itself. You think you’re holy, you think you’re something? So, the believer is someone who’s identified by the suffering he endures. His suffering is pretty much like Christ’s suffering, where he has not done anything wrong, but he’s hated. And in verse 17, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. Now, once he mentions suffering, he knows that people are going to have trouble digesting that because normally people think if you come to Christ, the suffering will be over, all the problems will be over. From then on, it’s only bliss and happiness. There will be no more suffering. And so, people will be asking, “Well, I thought if I come to Christ, I can get rid of all the sufferings, but you’re talking about sufferings. In fact, you’re talking about suffering as one of the signs of being a true Christian.” So, he wants to explain something. In the world in which they lived, just about every Christian suffered because of their faith in Christ. And Paul wants to give an explanation for that.

So, in verse 18, he goes on, he says, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” In other words, he says, “Look, the suffering that you endure now is only for a short time and it is nothing to be compared with the glory that you’re going to enter into; what God has reserved for you;the salvation that is going to be completed in you; the salvation which is going to be consummated in you. The glory that you’re going to enter in is far greater than the suffering that you’re enduring.” That is how he comes on this whole subject. And then, he says, “Look at the creation, the creation itself is suffering in a way. It is not the way it was when God created it. It has fallen into a curse because of man’s sin.This creation that was made for him has entered into a curse also. It is something less than what God created to be. It is not what God wanted it to be; it’s in a state of cursedness.” And therefore, he knows that it’s not being what it should be. It knows that it’s not in the glorious condition that God made it. Therefore, in the creation itself, there is a groaning. It says that if the creation had any mouth to speak, it’ll tell you that it’s not what it should be.

There is a groaning; it’s awaiting the redemption of the creation and it knows when it’s going to happen.It’s going to happen when man is going to be completely redeemed because it fell with man, because of man’s sin, creation entered into curse. It knows that when man is totally redeemed, creation also will be completely redeemed. Therefore, it’s waiting, eagerly waiting. That’s how he comes into this whole subject. That is how he talks about the new age coming, the new heaven and new earth, new life where death will be no more. There will be no more crying; death will be rid of. All that causes pain in our body and suffering in our body will be gone. There will be a new way of living; we’ll enter into glory. We’ll have glorious bodies, not the body of sin, the body of weakness, the body that bears all the signs of the cursedness of the fall. No, it will all be removed. Man will be completely redeemed.

Now, come to verse 23,he gives you three words for us to understand what is going to happen in the future. If you understand these three words, you’ll understand what’s going to happen in the future. Look at verse 23: Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.Can you tell the three words there?The first word is “firstfruits”. The second word is “redemption of our body”. And the third is “adoption”.So,“firstfruits”,“adoption”, and “redemption of our body”.

Now, let’s deal with it one-by-one in reverse order, for teaching purposes.Let’s talk about the redemption of the body. What does Paul mean by the redemption of our bodies? He literally means that we are going to be resurrected. All those that are dead are going to be resurrected; those that are alive, at the time of Christ’s coming, their body will be transformed into a glorious body. Something is going to happen to the body and that’s going to happen when the dead are raised, when Jesus comes. So, he’s talking about the resurrection, which is a chief element in the hope of the Christians.The resurrection of the body. Now, this is very important for two reasons.Why the resurrection of the body is important? For two reasons, it’s important.One: the sufferings that we endure in this life are mostly sufferings in our body. The body has been the instrument that displays the sufferings that are there as a result of the fall. You can see the cursedness in the body, in the physical suffering.See, when we get sick, we suffer physically. When we die, you can see what sin has done, what the fall has brought about in man.Even the persecuted Paul received stripes on his body. He says, “In the body I bared the debt of Jesus Christ; in my body”. His body speaks for him, he says. Look at my body. You will know how much I’ve suffered.So, the body is the thing that displays all the suffering that has come as a result of the sin and the sin that is in the world.

Now, you may say,“Well, what about psychological wounds?” Yeah! I told you that when sin came, not only affected man’s body, where God said you will surely die. It affected man’s mind, his intellect, his emotions as well. Every aspect of his mental life. So, thinking was affected; emotions were affected; his ability to decide was affected. Everything was affected. But why does the Bible pay so much attention to the body, the redemption of the body? Because it is in the body all those things are manifesting, even psychologically. You know, when you go to the doctor’s, many times, you’ll hear this that because you’re worrying and because you’re afraid and because there is something going on in the mind, because of the psychological wounds, that are there, because of the bitterness, because of the hatred, because of what’s going on in the mind and emotions of a human being, that is why you’re suffering from hypertension. That is why you’re suffering from ulcer, that is why you’re suffering from so many illnesses.

I remember, many years ago, watching a TV show that comes out in America called Johnny Carson Show. All those Americans back in those days, they don’t sleep without watching Johnny Carson. He’d give a monologue for five minutes. They wait to watch his monologue and then go to sleep. They liked him so much. So, sometimes I used to sit up and watch also. Sometimes they’d interview religious people also – he interviewed Billy Graham, he interviewed Katherine Coleman, the woman that was mightily used by God in the healing ministry. He went to a meeting, he had to go in the morning and stand in line to get in. So, she came on his show and he’s hoping to give a hard time to anybody that comes on. So,he looked at her and he said, “Miss Coleman, I want to ask you a question. You know, you claim that there are so many people getting healed in your meeting, but they say the people that get healed in your meetings are getting healed only from psychosomatic illnesses”. Psychosomatic illnesses are illnesses that are caused in the body because of what is happening in the mind, such as worry and tension and all of those things. It converts into sickness in the body. It becomes sickness of the body, biologically, it becomes a problem. What is in the mind produces sickness. And that was a very clever question. He says psychological healing – it is only the mind you’re doing something. So, you’re dealing only with the mind. He made it look like healing the mind is so easy. People are not getting really healed from biological illnesses. What you’re doing is your speech and you think it does something that their mind. He’s trying to downplay the healing. And she looked at him and said, “Johnny, if a sickness is physical, and physical only, most often, doctors have some answers for it. It is the psychosomatic type of illnesses the doctors are unable to heal because the man has got a problem in his emotions.In his mind, something is going on, that has produced his illness. And it is this illness my Jesus heals”,she said.And that is how people are healed.It’s a true healing that happens in the body but since it has come through the mind, the healing also happens through the mind. The mind and the body are healed. She was talking about.Never forget that.So, the body is a very important thing. The body becomes the thing through which the fall and cursedness is displayed in human beings.

Secondly, we are not just spirits and souls; we are body. We talk about spirit,soul, and body. The separation that we make, talking about the tripartite being that man is – sprit, soul and body. It’s for teaching purposes that we split it into three parts – spirit, soul, and body, so that we see each part separately and talk about the nature of men and so on. But actually, you cannot separate; it all comes together. You cannot separate man into three parts. He comes as one being, his spirit, soul, and body. A lot of times, I have seen as I grew up, we placed a lot of emphasis on spirit and soul but very little emphasis on body.We thought whatever happens to the body doesn’t matter. We need to care about our spirit and soul. Afterall, spirit is the most important thing. I’ve taught about the inner man and the importance of inner man and what happens there. I’ve taught about the renewing of your mind and all of that. What I’m saying is every part is important. I’ve also taught about the body.A lot of Christians sometimes have a wrong attitude about the body. It’s just my body, you know, but my mind and my soul and spirit are the most important, they think. God made you as one person—spirit, soul, and body—one person. And just like spirit is important, soul is important, the body is also important.

Paul talks about it in 1 Corinthians 6. He says that some people live with this kind of philosophy in the world. They think the stomach is for the food and food is for the stomach. That’s the philosophy that they have. You ask them why the body is there and they say, “to fill it with food”. Why food is there?“To fill the body with it”. He says,“But the body is for the Lord”,he says. Have you ever read it in1 Corinthians 6, verse 19. The body is for the Lord and then, he talks about it and in the end, he comes and says, “Therefore glorify God in your body also”. So, you cannot take the body lightly. The body is a very important part of a person and that is why the Bible talks about the redemption of the body. Only when the body is redeemed, only when the bodily redemption is completed, salvation is completed. So, when people ask us and say, “Are you saved?”We can give three different answers; all three are right. We can say,“Yes, I am saved because I’ve been saved already”. When?“When my sins were forgiven, when I was made a child of God, when I was accepted by God through the righteousness that Jesus gave me, I’ve been saved. I am saved”. That’s the right answer. But I can also give a second answer:“I am being saved”. That will also be right because every day, as I live with victory over sin, by the power of God, that is given to me to have power over sin and to be free from the power of sin. That is the salvation that is happening, right now.Currently, presently in my life, I’m being saved and that’s right. And we can also say, “I’m going to be saved because my body still bears the marks of the fall”. The weaknesses that have come through the fall, death that has come through the fall. The cursedness that has come through the fall, the body bears it and displays it. You can see it in the body. So evident in the body. You know, what has happened in the spirit and soul, you can hardly see it. In the body, you can see it.

So, once the bodily redemption is complete, that means everything has been done, all right. The spirit, soul and body are okay. That salvation is coming. That’s called glorification. So, there is justification, sanctification, and the glorification. But remember, Paul calls it “the redemption of our bodies”. He doesn’t call it resurrection, but he’s talking about resurrection and the glorification and so on. But he doesn’t call that. He calls it the redemption of our bodies. Why does he call it the redemption of our bodies? Because the word ‘redemption’ is a powerful word. It’s a powerful word that tells us of how we have been set free from sins’ bondage by his death. That’s why the ‘redemption’ word is used there.When the term ‘redemption’ is used, it commonly denotes two things.One is that the deliverance spoken off, in the word ‘redemption’ is brought about in a manner which is glorious, and which is easy to be seen. God exhibiting His power.You can see how the power of God has worked. It’s a complete deliverance. Redemption speaks of a complete deliverance which places man beyond all danger. Completely delivers him. That’s why the word ‘redemption’ is used.

In Ephesians, chapter 1, verse 19. Have you ever read that, where the apostle Paul talks about the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead. That’s a mouthful. But let me say it very simply.He’s saying, when Jesus was raised from the dead, God displayed His power. That power is greater than the power that was displayed in the creation.The Romans gave him up to killed and they put Him on the Cross and they killed Him. The Jews wanted Him to be killed. The world of that time was made of Romans and the Jews. They came against Him and they killed Him on the Cross. They put Him in a grave, put a seal on it and put on guard to guard it, made sure that death was sure. But God raised Him from the dead.No man could stop it. The entire Roman Empire couldn’t stop it. No emperor could stop it. No power on earth could stop it. No number of people can stop it. The mob got together and said,“Crucify Him! Release unto us, Barabbas”. But nobody could stop it right now. God raised Him from the dead, in spite of the whole world standing against Him, wanting Him to be dead, putting a seal on the grave and putting a Roman guard standing there with weapons. God raised Him from the dead and God opens the grave so people can go and see.The display of God’s power was tremendous in the raising of the dead. And what Paul is saying is, he’s saying that that same kind of power is used in setting you and I free from our sins. And he says, “May the Lord open the eyes of your understanding, so that you will see what kind of power God has used in delivering you from your sin, from the penalty of sin, from the power of sin, and from the very presence of sin ultimately, in glorification”.The power of God displayed there like in nothing else. That is why the word ‘redemption’ is used.Redemption is the most fitting word; resurrection doesn’t say very much. Redemption is to break the chains, free a person so that he will never return to that place again. That’s what redemption is.

No wonder our bodies groan. If we groan in our bodies, they are the seat of physical weakness and they are the seat of our sinful natures. Like I said, it’s a body of sin, Romans calls it. In the 7^th chapter, he says, “This is a body of sin”. Why? Because the signs of all that sin has done to man is there in the body. It’s a body of sin that displays man’s fall like nothing else. And it is a body that’s become the seat of sinful nature also.Sinful nature, sinful inclinations, the lust, and other things that go with a sin are part of the body. The body is the great mover towards sin. And this body, this weak body, the sinful body is going to become a strong body, sinless body, and a glorious body in the redemption of our body. So, that’s what is going to happen. This body in which you see all the signs of the fall and the curse. All those signs are going to be gone, the weakness is going to be gone, the sickness is going to be gone, death is going to be gone. You will get a body where there is no sign of the fall. There is no sign of sin and it’s damages. It’s a glorious body, in other words.

Secondly, the word “adoption as sons”. The word “adoption” is already used in the 15^th verse, in the 8^th chapter, right? In verse 15, we read that you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father”.It says you received the Spirit of adoption.We are already redeemed but in verse 23,we are told that even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption. Now,verse 15 says we received adoption;verse 23 says we’re waiting for the adoption.Which is true?Seems like a contradiction. Is it true that we received adoptions? Yes, in a way, that is true. In what way? When we came to Christ, put our faith in Christ, our sins were forgiven. God bestowed Christ’s righteousness upon us, accepted us in the family. And we cried out, “Abba, Father” because we knew at that point, somehow, that we are the children of God. Inside of us, there was a sense, telling us, that we are the children of God. Plus, the Spirit of God was testifying to us that we are children of God. Yes, we have received the Spirit of adoption that caused us to cry “Abba, Father”. Then, what about verse 23 where it says,we’re eagerly waiting for the adoption, groaning within ourselves? What are we waiting for? What kind of adoption is this?

Well, Paul knows the Roman customs very well. So, he’s guiding the Roman Christians and he’s using the customs there because he knows that they understand it very well. In Rome, they had the adoption like we have, you know, like, somebody may be adopted in a family, legally. They can take a child and bring that child into their family, execute legal papers and legally take on a child and make the child theirs, for whatever reason. Somebody may have given birth, they’re not able to care for it. They give it for adoption. The parents might have died; these people get the child and adopt the child. For whatever reason, they can legally adopt a child. That kind of adoption also was there. But there was another reason they used the word “adoption”. And that is, when this child that was taken on and adopted, stays in their home, enjoys every good thing from that house, eats in that house, gets educated in that house. All the resources of that family are available to the child.He grows up in that house, makes use of everything that is available there, but at a certain point as he grows to a certain level and reaches a certain age, they have actually a function where they gather the people and they give a speech and everything and make a big deal about it and finally, they put on a toga on him—a Roman garment that is a loose flowing Roman garment that you put on people you know that covers everything except your right hand or so, signifying that this is now a man. You’re looking at a man, he’s not a little boy anymore. He’s man, he’s responsible, he’s a responsible Roman citizen, he is obligated to obey every law and he’s responsible for everything is the Roman citizen. Not only that, in that house, he has now become heir. He’s the legal heir now. All this time he’s eating in the house; he was studying from there; he used all the resources of the house; he lived by the money that was spent in the house. But now, he’s the legal heir to everything that belongs to them. He is now declared as the legal heir of everything that belongs to them. That’s what happens. That’s the kind of thing that Paul is talking about here.

So, the two kinds of adoptions are there in Christian also.We belong somewhere, we were children of the devil, literally. Jesus told the Pharisees,“Your father is the devil”. So, we were at one time, children of the devil but we were brought and adopted into the family of God. We were brought into the family of God. Now, we are crying out,“Abba, Father”. The Spirit of adoption has been given to us; we have become children of God. Yeah, we have been enjoying this good life that God has given to us, every blessing of God, in spirit, soul,and body. We’ve been enjoying as we grow in Christ. Throughout our entire life, this is available for us; we enjoy it. Just like for the Romans, there comes a point where they’re declared legally the heir to everything. Our day in which we will be declared legal heir to everything is when Jesus comes. We enter into our full inheritance of everything. That doesn’t mean we don’t touch anything from that inheritance until He comes. Some Christian people put everything to the future. No blessings now, everything only after you die. Only when Jesus comes.Nothing now. And some Christians put everything now. Nothing later to expect. The Bible teaches that eager expectation, what are you going to do about it, if you teach like that? I talked in Tamil this morning and there is a saying in Tamil [Tamil: 00:49:22] Sometimes people think there’s only one option. You grow your hair long and put a ponytail. Grow a ponytail or the next option, is you shave your head completely. Well, don’t you know there is something in between?

So, people go to the two extremes. They think everything is for now and some of us think everything’s for the future. I’ve seen this kind of people all the time as I was growing up. In some churches, you’ll go they’ll say,“Everything is now; nothing to come!” So, this 8^th chapter you can very well tear it and throw it away. This groaning we don’t know, this expectation we don’t know. All of these things we don’t know. We know nothing about it. In some places, wherever you go, they will teach you everything is future. Nothing you can enjoy now. You just live like a beggar now, having nothing. But the Bible doesn’t teach that.The Bible teaches that we have been adopted. We are living in the family of God. We have been taken care of by God. We enjoy all the blessings of God. But we receive our full inheritance and declared as heirs of everything that is God’s, when Jesus comes, when He assures that eternity. That is when we receive our full inheritance. We receive healing now for our body. We receive so many other blessings but an undying body, we receive there only. That is what I call full inheritance.

The second word is the word “adoption”. The second word is the word, “adoption” and the first word is “redemption of our bodies”, right? We explained that. The second word is “adoption” and we explained that just now. Paul is talking about the second kind of adoption that you wait until the child reaches a certain age, declaring heir of all things and so on. One more example I’ll give you.In Hebrews, chapter 1, in the first few verses it talks about Jesus as heir, appointed to be heir of all things. When was He appointed to be heir of all things?When He died and rose from the dead, in His resurrection body. There He was appointed heir of all things, and we were made joint heirs with Him. And we are told here in verse 17, also the same thing:if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. So,He was made heir of all things and we are made joint heirs. He joined us with Him as joint heirs. So, that is what adoption is all about.

The third word is “firstfruits”. Now, firstfruits is an Old Testament concept.In Leviticus, chapter 23, you don’t have to look at it. In verse 9 to 14,we read about the firstfruits, where people are told that when God gives them a great harvest, they get the firstfruits of the harvest, the first thing that grows and comes from what they have sown and reaped. The very first thing. They bring a sheaf of the first grain of the harvest and give it to the priest and the priest will wave it before the Lord. Now, what was he doing?He was dedicating it to God; not only the firstfruits, but he’s also dedicating through the firstfruits the entire harvest. He’s giving credit to God, he’s giving thanks to God, he’s acknowledging God as the giver of everything. God is not going to eat the first fruit. But this is something that they carried out in order to give thanks to God and give credit to God and glorify God so that their entire harvest is dedicated to God. God told them to do that. In the Old Testament ceremony, firstfruits were something that devout worshippers from the Jewish worshipers they brought these things to God and gave to God. But in the New Testament, when Paul uses the word “firstfruits”, the firstfruits refers to an earnest down payment on the first blessings to come, which is the Holy Spirit himself.

In Ephesians 1, verse 14, he talks about the Holy Spirit that a believer has received as the earnest of our inheritance. Earnest is just simply down payment. I told you here, many times, that when what belongs to you is so big,like if you’re selling a property and the property is worth 100 crores and you want to sell it, somebody comes and pays a down payment.They will pay 25% of it, which is 25 crores; that will be good enough for you to live your whole life. The down payment is so big because the whole thing is so big. The down payment itself is there for your entire lifetime here. Now, our down payment which God gives it like that, because the full payment is so glorious. He says that glory that we are going to receive in the future is nothing compared to the suffering. Suffering is nothing when compared to the glory. So great is the glory, there is no comparison. The glory is such a big thing that God is giving us and that down payment is the Holy Spirit.

Now, if the Holy Spirit is the down payment, that should tell you something.Is the Holy Spirit sufficient for every need, for every need in spirit, soul, and body, in every area of your life? In this earthly life, is the Holy Spirit the down payment not enough? I tell you by giving us the Holy Spirit to guide us and lead us into all truth, help us to know everything and to guide us into God’s will and plan and purpose.By giving us the Holy Spirit, God makes us very successful in this earth. You can’t ask for anything more than that.Everything that you need for this life is given when the Holy Spirit is given to come and reside in you, to guide you, to lead you to all truth, to show the way, to give you the wisdom. He’s the Spirit of wisdom and understanding; He’s the great guide. Nothing can go wrong. He can guide you perfectly in every situation. He is more than enough. Do you know how many people don’t know this truth? They don’t know the truth about this great down payment.

Some people have been taught that they received nothing, really. And so, they don’t realize that they can come to God and receive whatever they need. They don’t realize what belongs to them. They don’t know the truth about what belongs to them, what is their right and privilege in Christ Jesus. What belongs to them now, they don’t know. We have prayer meetings on Fridays. You should come and see, sometimes.Prayer is a blessed privilege that God has given to us. It is not a begging time. You know, when I was little, growing up in this very city, beggars used to come every day, house to house, with a plate in their hands because they didn’t have any food and they’ll come.And you can hear, I’ll never forget their voices,“Amma”, they’ll say. Immediately we’ll go running to give them some food. And they will go and eat.They’ll receive from all kinds of houses, food for them and their children, begging. Now, sometimes when I hear Christian prayer, it sounds like begging. The beggar has come because they’ve made Christian prayer into begging because someone has taught them, we beg you, Lord.We beg you.Christian prayer is not a beginning experience. Christian prayer is an experience, where you come into the presence of God because you have a standing invitation.Come to the throne of grace to obtain mercy at the time of your need.Come in; get what you want, ask whatever you will, in my name and I will do it for you! You ask the Father in My name; He will do it for you. What a great privilege it is but nobody tells us.

In some circles, people are sure that if they ask, they won’t get. That is why they are busy writing letters to some great evangelists, you know. Sir, will you please pray for me? You get it for me. And they also think they are God’s agents, you know. So, one will say,“I’m receiving 2000 letters per day”. The other is saying 3000 letters, so, he’s got a bigger ministry because so many letters have come in. It’s coming because they’re saying, you write to me. What I’m saying is you don’t have to write to me. I’ll tell you how you can go straight to God.If you write to them, where are they going to go? You can go straight to God, my friend!You can go and you will be received. You have a standing invitation. An open door is kept for you. You are invited. You are welcome. God says,“Call unto Me and I will answer you. Before you call, I will answer”.

What a blessing privilege prayer is but we think we can’t do anything. Our prayers don’t reach anywhere because we’ve never been told about our privilege of what we have in Christ. I’m telling you this morning; you have received the firstfruits. The first fruit is the Holy Spirit. He is the earnest of our inheritance. Our inheritance is very big;the first fruit is the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit is your first fruit,my goodness, you know, that’s enough for your entire life on this earth. In eternity there’s more coming.For your whole earthly life, the Holy Spirit is enough to guide you and to lead you in every way and to meet your every need.

Finally, in the last two verses, 24 and 25,it talks about hoping and waiting. “We eagerly wait for it”, verse 25 says. Our hope is now taken on a very poor connotation nowadays. When we say “hope”, we mean normally, I hope it rains. That means it may rain,it may not rain. I hope I get the job, that means I may get the job, I may not get the job.I hope I pass the exam, that means I may pass, I may not pass.Hope is a word of doubt nowadays. But when the Bible talks about hope, it’s sure certainty.When Bible says “hope”, that means it’s sure.When you live by hope, you’re living by some surety. It’s talking about surety. So, as we groan in our body, waiting for the bodily redemption, it’s become our hope. What does it mean? It means that, we are sure.We are sure it’s going to happen. We are certain it’s going to happen.There is no doubt it is going to happen. And that is why we eagerly wait; not just wait, eagerly wait.That word “eagerly”, is very important. In verse 19 also, it’s used.In verse 35 also, it’s used. “We eagerly wait”.Do you know what “eagerly” means? Some great Bible scholars have come up with what it actually means. It means standing on tiptoe. In other words, standing on your toe literally, the tip of your toe and stretching your neck out like this. Have you ever stood like this because you can’t see far enough? You stood on the tip of your toe, stretching your neck out, trying to see. That’s what “eagerly waiting” means.

In Tamil, one of the traditional songs of Tamil, relighting the Second Coming [Tamil: 01:02:23] I don’t know if you heard of it or who wrote that. Amazingly, they brought it out that song, that says [Tamil: 01:02:32]It’s talking about the coming of Christ,Who is going to suddenly come.Then it says, [Tamil: 01:02:57] Exactly that meaning. I’m standing on tiptoes, stretching out my neck, watching for you. My eyes are getting tired watching for you, Lord. When are you coming? That is the “eagerly waiting” that every Christian undergoes. I had to sing that song. I don’t know who wrote that song; they wrote it beautifully. [Tamil: 01:03:27]I’ve been looking for You eagerly.On the tip of my toe, I’m standing. I’m looking for you eagerly, as to when you will come. I tell you, my friend,if you have a great excitement in your heart about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, you are a true believer. That is why you are having it. You are having that groaning,that eager waiting and hoping and expectation. You are groaning within yourself. This joyful groaning which causes you to expect these glorious things to happen anytime.

See, sometimes when we teach on the Second Coming, we go everywhere. We talk about Russia, China, and everything. You know, things that we don’t know anything about. We never talk about this. We talk about what is going to happen in Russia; what’s going to happen in America; what’s going to happen in London or something like that. There’s a Second Coming; it’s going to happen! It is sure and certain Jesus is going to come. I know it; you know it. The Bible gives us a hope because our redemption is not complete. My body is still bearing the cursedness of sin. I can see in my body, the signs of sin and what it has done to my body. My body has to be redeemed! It is never complete; redemption is not complete until my body is redeemed, and it’s going to be done and that is why He’s coming! When He appears, when He comes, you and I will be raised from the dead. If we are alive, we’ll be transformed. Our bodies will be transformed, given a new body, a glorified body. This weak body will become a strong body. A body of sin will become a sinless body;a body of glory, it will become. Amen.

How many of you are expecting? I am expecting. A true Christian, this is one of the signs of a true Christian.We’re going to sing a song. You know, I’ve noticed every time you sing a song about the Second Coming, hearts really go out. I mean, you really rejoice, people really rejoice because a true Christian rejoices in the prospect of the coming Christ and what is going to happen. Amen.

Let’s stand together. Let’s pray.