Sunday English Service – 14 AUG 22

Transcript

All right, let’s go to the Word of God. Please turn with me to Romans Chapter 8. Romans, Chapter 8. We’ve been teaching on redemption, the series called redeemed. For several weeks, it’s a major subject. And we’re dealing with it, we’re talking about various aspects of redemption. Today I want to talk about something that is not often talked about, that is the redemption of creation, the redemption of creation. Let me read you, Chapter 8 and verse 19, onwards 19 to 22. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him, who’s subjected it in hope, because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with both pangs together until now. Well, you might find it very strange and may not understand what I just read to you now, maybe that’s why a lot of people avoid even preaching from this. But I think this is a very important truth. And Paul is presenting it in a particular context. The first century church was a church that was troubled very much, by way of persecution. And Paul himself had experienced so many persecutions, and troubles wherever he went. That’s because Jesus was crucified in the city of Jerusalem. The people came as a mob for Pilate’s house and they said, “Release Barabbas to us, crucify Jesus.” And Pilate, couldn’t find anything wrong with Jesus. So he washed his hand and said, “I don’t find anything wrong with this man. And so you bear the blood guilt of this person upon you.” And they said,“Yeah, we’ll beat it, no problem, just hand him over to be crucified.” So he handed him over to be crucified. And that is the way in which Jesus was crucified there. It was known throughout that city, Old Jerusalem was talking about it, everybody knew it.

But on the third day, just imagine in that very city where he was crucified, in the knowledge of all the people there. He was risen from the dead. Paul talking about it in 1 Corinthians Chapter 15, which is a great resurrection Chapter talks about how he appeared to so many people for so many days, over so many days. And he mentions himself there, he mentions Peter and other disciples and others. And at one time, he appeared to 500 people, he says, not just one or two people. 500. That’s very important. Because if you just appear to one or two people, you may say, well, they were deluded, they thought that they saw Jesus, they’re all crazy people. But you can’t say that about 500 people. 500 people were eyewitnesses to the risen Christ, that seen him. And when Paul was writing on Corinthians 15, some of them were living still. And he mentioned that some of them are among us today. They were still living. Yet no one ever confronted Paul saying, “Why are you telling a lie? Jesus didn’t rise a weaver. We’re here in the city. Everybody claims they saw him. We never saw him. The 500. I was one of the 500. Where did I see him? I did not see him.” Nobody. Nobody denied. The fact that they saw him everyone that saw him admitted, we saw the risen Christ. There was no one to challenge Paul. And he writes, when lots of them were still alive, he writes, saying that he appeared to 500.

And so the gospel began to spread powerfully. Jerusalem was filled with the gospel. The Jews themselves said it. They accused the Christians of filling the city with this message. Because great miracles happened. People started believing from street to street, they started gathering. They started breaking bread as we did just now. They started fellow shipping, coming together, praying, teaching, and so on. And the church grew by the 1000s, they began to receive Jesus. They brought in Paul who was Saul at the time. It was a man of zeal, to put a stop to all this, because he was ready even to kill for the sake of Judaism. And he came there and he started his work.Yes, he was behind the killing of Steven. But at one point he met Jesus Himself. Jesus appeared to him and he was convinced that he is Lord, the very person that he was opposed to. He has decided that He is Lord and God and he started worshipping him and started to follow him and gave his life to him and became a preacher and became the greatest preacher of Christianity, the very man, that was like a terrorist going around shutting down churches, and killing people became the greatest preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ and took it all over the world. But wherever he went, he faced a lot of opposition. Because the Jews hated the fact that Judaism was losing people to Christianity. So they were opposing it everywhere they went.

And the Gentiles also hated it, because the Christians look markedly different from others. They lived a different kind of life. They espouse to a totally different kind of doctrine. They believe like nothing else. I mean, it was so different. If a person accepted Christ in a home, that person was so markedly different from the others, that irritated people. And it brought about a lot of persecution, Paul talks about his own persecution, what kinds of persecution he experienced in 2 Corinthians 11, it gives a big list of things that he suffered for the sake of Christ’s gospel. He talks about how he was beaten five times with 39 stripes, that’s the maximum number of stripes that you’d give to any person, legally. 39 stripes were given five times, not just one or two times. I mean, when you receive those 39 Stripes, your body is done. In the midst of this kind of persecution and trouble the church was going on. And Paul is facing questions. People are saying, “Where is God in the midst of all this? Why is God allowing all this? Why can’t we stop this persecution? Why if he’s God, and Lord, if he is the creator of the heaven and earth, as you say, if you claim that he made everything, that he’s all powerful in his name, miracles are happening, why these persecutions are going on? Why is He watching all this and keeping quiet? Why can’t He do anything about it? Why should we suffer people that don’t follow Christ that live in all kinds of sins and revel in it? They’re living happily, nobody’s persecuting them, they’re happily living. We’re trying to live for God, a good life, and we are persecuted for living a good life. Why should we live a Christian life? Why should we follow Christ in this circle, we can also throw the Bible away, and then throw our faith in Christ, and just go and live, enjoying the pleasures of sin, just like the rest of the world? Why should we suffer like this? Is it worth living for Christ?”

That’s the question that’s in the minds of the people. Is it worth living for Christ? If anybody had any kind of ability to think and be rational about it? Will they follow Christ? Why can’t we just forget about this and go bind our business? Why suffer like this? What is the meaning of all this? Is it worth it? And Paul is writing in that context, because in verse 18, he puts it like that, for I consider the sufferings, that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory, which shall be revealed to us. In other words, he says, “If you compare the sufferings of this present time, with the glory that shall be revealed in us, the suffering is nothing, the glory so glorious, so wonderful. So you don’t mind is suffering.”I’ll give you a small example, then you will understand. You would have seen this from house to house in various occasions among young people who had just married, when you get married, you always start very small, you have as little job, you have very little income. Nothing is really enough. Sometimes others have to come to your aid your parents in whatever, they have to come and help you a little bit. That’s the way we all start our lives, married lives. But when a guy has a vision for the future, when he has the determination and carries a vision in his heart, invariably, that vision becomes the wives vision, also. His commitment to work, his commitment to try,his commitment to be committed to his work, to be faithful, to do his best, and to aspire to go somewhere within his profession in his career. That vision that is there is often shared when the person has a vision, he shares it. And when he shares it with his wife. Somehow the wife becomes one minded with the husband because everybody likes vision. Everybody likes to hear about what you want to do. Where are we going with this? Where are we headed? What is our goal, and if a person can provide the goal and a vision, people are thrilled, and the wife that has a husband like that, she’ll be thrilled to join with that husband.And in that case, you will find that the wife for a time is willing to suffer any amount of suffering, for the sake of the vision that this man has, because she loves that man. And she loves that vision. And she’s with him 100%. Therefore, the troubles and the needs and the problems and the difficulties are nothing. Why? Because she thinks the future is going to be great.

Just a few years, maybe just a few months, few years of trouble, few years of struggle. But this guy is a good guy, he’s got his mind together, he’s got his goal, really set. He is got a determined mind and attitude, he is committed. He’s decent, and he’s got a vision, he’s aiming for it, he will go for it. Therefore, if I stick with him, if I work with him, if I suffer with him, my future will be great. We’ll have a long, good future. And a brief period of struggles maybe, compared to the long good future, the brief period of struggle is nothing. That’s the way Christian ought to look at it. Christian life, sometimes it’s not very easy, particularly in some cultures, where you have to battle with all kinds of persecutions and so on. But the way Christians ought to look at it is the way that Paul looked at it, he could have backed off having the same five times 39 Stripes, that’s a good time to back off and say, “That’s enough, I’m not part of this anymore. I’ve received enough stripes; I have no time to meddle with this anymore. I quit.” He could have said, but he keeps going. He kept going until they killed him. He kept going. He was committed to the gospel, he kept going, he was not backing off for anything. He was persecuted everywhere he went, before he went and arrived in the city, a letter about him arrived there already wanting the Jews there, to beat this guy up, to hand him over to authorities. That’s the kind of trouble that he experienced. He said trouble from my own brethren trouble from the world, that Gentile world, trouble from everywhere. But he did not quit. Why? Because he thought like that, all this trouble is worth it because the glory that is going to be revealed in me later, is far, far greater than the trouble and all that it represents right now.

So he knew something about the glory of the future. That’s what I’m interested in talking about. The Christians who fear suffering right now, they don’t know something about the glory that is awaiting them. If they know about the glory, then they will not mind the suffering that is there for a short, brief time. So he puts it like this. If you turn to 19th verse, look at the way he puts it. One of the things that he talks about is, he puts forth two arguments, basically. Think about it like this. The first argument is says“Hey, it’s worth living for Christ.  You know why? Because the suffering of this person time is nothing compared to the glory that’s going to be revealed later in us. The future is going to be great. Eternity of joy and peace, eternity of a perfect life, a brief time of some suffering. So I don’t mind it. He says the second argument is the thing that really goes into. The second argument is this. He says, “Think about the glory that is going to be revealed?” Particularly the glory that’s going to be revealed in us and in the creation. The creation and man are linked. You need to understand that. Before man was created, everything else was created, all creation was over. Man was the final creation. After Man was created, nothing more was created. Everything is created. Before God created money, thought about everything that man would ever need, and created everything that man would ever need. After creating everything for man, He created man. That’s very thoughtful. So when man arrived, there was nothing needed. Everything God has made. The Bible says he finished creation after that he never created anything. After that he did a few things but it’s not creation. The creation that happened until Man was created was God created everything out of nothing, ex nihilo creation, creation out of nothing.

After that, he did some things that are different. But when God created the whole world and man, he created the whole world for men, and then finally made man. Creation was over. And then he says this, listen to this, you need to understand this in order to understand the link between man and the creation, because we’re going to talk about the glory of the creation, glory that is going to come to the creation, it is linked to the glory that is going to come to man. Look at verse 29. And the first Chapter of Genesis, the first Chapter of Genesis is probably the most important Chapter of the Bible, reveals so much. And God said, verse 29, see, I have given you every herb that eel seed, which is on the face of the earth. He is telling man, I’ve given you every herb that eel seed, which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree, whose fruit eel seed to you, it shall be for food. Also, every beast of the earth, to every bird of the earth, to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every herb for food. Then it says, and it was so. Now this, and it was sois something that is regularly happening throughout the first Chapter. The first Chapter kind of has a rhyming thing to it, it says, and God said, let there be light. And the second line is, and it was so. That’s the way it kind of rhymes, every time, six, seven times. It happens there. God says something. And the following line says, and it was so. God says, and it was so. God says and it was so, there is a third line that’s coming, it says, and it was good. So God said, and it was so and it was good. These three things occur again and again.

So what does it say? It says that God created everything by speaking. He said, and it was, so what did he say? He said, let there be light. And it was so that means when he said, let there be light, light happened, light came on. So when God said, I’ve given every herb that eel seed, which is on the face of the earth, and every tree whose fruit eel seed to you, it shall be for food, God is declaring something, something about the Earth, why this earth is made in such a way to receive the seed and bring forth food for man. The earth is made in such a way that it will receive the seed within itself and bring forth food for men. So God says it shall be for food for you. God is declaring something. God is declaring how the earth is going to work, how the seed that’s planted in it, it’s going to work. And when God declared it, it was so. That means when God said, it shall be for food, food started growing in abundance. That is the way you have to understand it. Just like when he said, let there be light, light came on. When God said, I’ve given you seed that produces all kinds of things that you can eat, it shall be for food for you. When he said that, it’s like saying, let there be light. When he said, this shall be for food. This earth is for producing food, this herb, this seed is for producing food, it started producing in abundance, great abundance of food, there was not much effort needed. He just has to solve and he’ll reap whatever he wanted. He will just have to take seeds and saw it and multiply whatever he needed. No shortage. There’s plenty.

But then look at what happened in Chapter three after sin happened in verse 17. Then to Adam He said, because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree which I commanded you saying you shall not eat of it. Now listen to this. Cursed said is the ground for your sake. Because of you the ground is cursed. First when God said this earth shall produce food for you. All this is for food for you. The earth was blessed to produce it brought forth fruit in abundance. But now since man has sinned, man has come to the judgment of God. And God says,“Cursed is the ground for your sake.” Because you’ve done this, the ground has lost its blessing. Cursed has the ground for your sake, in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles shall bring forth for you and you shall eat the herb of the field, in the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground. So, in no uncertain terms God says, you’ll eat out of toil, not just work, toil, toil is at a different level. How long? All the days of your life why thorns and thistles will be produced this earth which is blessed to produce your food will produce thorns and thistles now, so that it chokes the food that you’re trying to produce. And then he says, out of the sweat of your face, you shall eat bread. And then he says, you will return to the ground for out of it you are taken for dust you are into dust you shall return. The final ultimate of the judgment is that you will go on to die. You are going to return to the dust from which you came.

So man sinned, man came under the judgment of God. And as a result, everything that was made for man, the Earth was made for men to produce food for man, that also got affected, because without the earth coming under the judgment, on sin, man would not experience the curse that has come upon him, if the earth is producing an abundance, how is he going to experience a curse, because he has come under the curse, one of the things that must happen is the earth must also come under the curse, and refuse to produce and produce in small quantities were demanding much work. So the amount of toil, that’s what happened. So the earth and man are connected because of him, the earth got cursed. This is how the Bible presents this. So today, the Earth is in problem. And verse 19, says, creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God, this earth knows that it’s not the way that God created to be in the beginning. It has lost its glory, it can produce gloriously, it can produce an abundance, it can produce beautifully. But it’s not doing the job, to the level that God intended it to be, even though it is producing now, not to the level that God intended it to be. It has lost its glory. So it is eagerly waiting for the revealing of the sons of God. Why? Because when man sinned, this came under curse. When is the creation going to be redeemed? When is it going to come back into full form, like it used to be? When man’s redemption becomes complete, that is when creation is going to return. Because when man’s sinned, the creation entered into this curse, and man’s redemption is complete, creation is going to return to its full form. That’s the way the Bible presents it.

Now, the world has some wrong ideas about the world, the world means the people of the world that don’t believe in the Bible have some strange ideas about the world, and about the creation in general. They look at the world in two extreme ways. One extreme is this. They look at the world and they think nothing is wrong with it. In fact, some of them think it’s going to get better and better. And it’s going to reach some kind of perfection automatically. It’s built into it. It’s becoming better and better, they think. So they look at the world and they don’t even recognize the fall or the curse that is in it. They don’t think there is anything wrong with it. They think it’s producing, it’s all right. And so they go to one extreme of even worshipping the earth. So they worship the earth, they worship the sun, moon and the stars. They’re worshipping everything that is created, because they look at a tree and the tree gives fruit. So worship it. You look at the sun, the sun gives light and you need light sunlight to survive. So worship the sun, you worship the ground because the ground produces food for you. So you worship the ground. You worship all the creatures, including various animals and so on, become your idols, your objects of worship. That’s one extreme, they worship everything created. They think of it as God. Then there is another extreme of people. Instead of worshipping, they do exactly the opposite. They kick it with their legs. They disrespect it, they abuse it. They abuse the Earth, but fill it with dirt, they’re cutting of trees. They’re dirtying all the rivers and waterways and filling it with poison so that the fish won’t survive. They’re polluting the air and they’re spoiling the environment. They abuse the Earth. This is another extreme. They don’t think anything about the Earth, they don’t think it’s to be worshipped. They don’t even think it’s to be respected or protected or anything.

So you have these two extremes. One extreme is to worship and as God because it’s producing something for you, the other extreme is to really kick it, and think of it as nothing and abuse it. Use it whichever way you want, not respecting the fact that it is there to help you and to provide for you. So these two extremes are there in the middle of that, there is a biblical alternative. What is the Christian view? The Bible presents the Christian view of the world; the Christian view is this. The Christian view says this is God’s world. Look at the way it is put in verse 19, the earnest expectation of the Creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.The word creation implies the Creator. If there is a creation, that simply means that word itself means that there is a Creator who made it. That’s why the creation came about. Creation. You cannot say it created itself, then I’ll have to ask you, how did it create itself? What is it that created itself? And where did that thing came about? How did that that thing came about that created itself? So the only rational thing to believe is that there is a God, all wise God. He is got to be all wise God, smarter than any man. There must be a wise God amazingly wise, to make a world that has such order built into it, such beauty built into it. And to make it work so beautifully, it must be an amazing, all wise, intelligent being, and He must have created the world.

So the Christians believe God created the world. The Bible begins like this, in the beginning, God created the heaven and earth. And because we believe God created the world, we also have a lot of respect, and place a lot of value upon God’s creation. We do not worship it. But we do not abuse it also, we don’t believe in worshipping it because we believe in worshiping the Creator, not the creation. The fact that we don’t worship the creation does not mean we disrespect the creation. It’s not that we don’t like the creation or that we don’t respect it as we should. No, we respect it very much. Just bowing before it is not respected, to take care of it to protect it, to cultivate it, is the true respect that you can show to it, that the Christians are after. It is from countries that are based on Christian doctrine, raised up on Christian values that came up with the very idea of environmental protection. We talk about environmental concerns and production today. It comes from basically countries which have their origin, in Christian doctrine, particularly Protestant Christian doctrine. And the Protestant Christian doctrines are solidly teaching Chapter one, that God created the world. Since God created it, it was created with a purpose to provide food for men, to provide sustenance for men. It is created for men for man’s use. Therefore, the Protestant doctrine talked very highly of the creation as God’s creation that must be respected, protected and cared for. So we don’t worship it, but we care for it. We don’t believe in abusing it. So it’s God’s creation.

Secondly, the Bible teaches that the world is not what it was created to be. It’s not in the condition that God created it to be. God created it to produce in abundance. That’s why I read Genesis 1:29. When God said, it shall be for food. It was so that means when God said it, it happened when God said it started producing food in abundance, but the fall came, and it ruined everything. Nature didn’t sin, Adam sinned, and nature was subjected to downgrading because of him and entered into his judgment, his judgment became the earth judgment also. It is this trouble that resulted in the creation suffering, under the curse that it is today, and three words are used by Paul to describe the condition of the Earth, the fallenness of the earth today, the condition in which the Earth is today. Three words. Very interesting words. One is the word frustration in verse 25. I’m reading from New King James Version. And New King James Version says,the creation was subjected to futility, the word futility is used. But if you read the NIV it uses the word frustration. I liked the word frustration better. A lot of Bible teachers like the word frustration better. It expresses what it means. King James version uses vanity and Tamil Bible seems to follow that. And that’s very vague. Vanity is very vague; futility is also not so powerful. Frustration is very powerful.

What is the problem with the earth today? It is in a state of frustration. What is frustration? Frustration is the feeling that we humans have, when we know that we should attain to some goal and are trying to reach it, but are repeatedly thrown back or defeated? Have you had that happen to you, you’re trying something very hard. You put so much effort into it, spend so much money so much time you make most of it, then it amounts to nothing. And that’s when frustration comes? You get sick and tired of it. Oh, I tried so much. I spent so much time money, it didn’t work out. That’s what is called frustration. Now, let me give you an illustration that all the major teachers from hundreds of years ago have been giving this illustration. This is not my illustration. But I’ve read several people on this some of the greatest preachers in the world on this particular thing. On this frustration, everyone seems to give this illustration. Somebody must have come up with it and excellent illustration. It’s an illustration about the four seasons. If you have four seasons, the spring, summer, autumn and winter. Now in countries like Canada, America and other countries where you have four seasons there, and some of those people asked me, “What about your country, what kind of seasons you have?” I say we have three, hot, hotter and hottest is our season, but they have these clear four seasons they have spring, summer and autumn and winter. Out of that, I have seen that those people love the springtime. When springtime come they all spring up like anything. Somehow they all come out. Because the winter is gone. The winter has kept them in this terrible miserable winter, some places you have to stay in and when you come out here to be all clothed from head to toe only your eye and nose can be showing, you have to wear even a gloves in a lot of places.

So they’re sick and tired of that. So they get rid of all that they wear a light windbreaker they call it in springtime because it’s a little bit chilled but not cold. And they love that. It’s not hot. It’s not like summer, but it’s beautiful weather. And they love it. Springtime is loved by people and they have special plans and activities planned, families planned vacations during springtime because that’s the best time to go out because it’s not too hot, not too cold. Everything is beautiful. These people enjoy springtime. I’ve never seen this in our country without hot, hotter, hottest. Only thing I knew is get off to [inaudible – 00:33:23] in May. But those people enjoyed springtime those few months. Very precious for them. But the problem is, after a few months, it goes into summer. The problem with summer is everything is dry, too hot. It’s not as enjoyable as the springtime. And then comes the autumn. The problem with autumn is all the trees, the leaves are completely shaven, complete, they fall off, it’s all empty. All trees look horrible. That’s what autumn is all about. And then winter comes and then you’re back again into your clothes, you have to dress up in layers. The first thing you do is turn on the radio or TV and listen to the weather forecasts before you leave the house.

So you can plan on how to dress how many layers of clothing you have to wear so that you can take it off one by one as the weather gets better and better during the day. It’s a big deal, to hear the weather. I used to wonder when I first went there a lot of people say how’s the weather going to be today? What are you talking about weather? We never talk about weather. We know what the weather is going to be. It’s going to be hot. They always talked about weather so much what the weather is going to be like. It was such an important thing. But springtime was such a special thing. And when the summer came in, it is not the same and the autumn is not the same and winter is worse. And they’re all by the time winter comes and goes, they’re all ready for another spring to come. And it comes surely every year it comes. But then every year it disappears. Somehow the spring is not able to stay. And these great guys that use this illustration they say, nature itself knows that it is supposed to be spring time, life, the whole life was supposed to be like that enjoyable springtime, but spring time was is possible. Springtime is not able to sustain itself, it’s not able to stay, summer comes in overtakes it, winter comes and overtakes it, autumn comes and over — everything comes and overtakes, it has to disappear, it is not able to sustain itself not able to stay.

Spring comes everybody enjoys, but the spring is not able to do anything to keep itself there permanently. The other thing comes and drives it off. That is what they say is frustration all about. The Earth is frustrated. It’s frustrated, because it is not able to do anything about the way it is. It needs to be the best it can be. But it is not able to be the best it can be. It can’t do anything about it. It knows what is best, it experiences the best for a few months, but then after that it’s gone. Frustration. You can see how frustrated it is. And plus on top of that everything that’s born dies. Have you ever noticed that when a child is born, we’re all happy we’re ready to celebrate. I’ve been to so many first birthdays. All people have them sometimes in five star hotels, and in really dude up nicely and I can understand their celebration, I can understand their joy. That’s great. But one guy told me one-day every time you cut the birthday cake and sing Happy Birthday to you, you better be careful, he says, because you’re saying that you’re one year closer to death. After that, I found it difficult to swallow that cake. And the song became very mild. So happy birthday to you because you’re now realizing one year closer to death. He said even the fresh born child the newly born child. First Year Celebration, the child is one year closer towards death. Now, think about that. That has become an inevitable reality of life. You cannot avoid it. It’s come to stay. It’s there. You can’t escape it. Everybody dies the Bible says. It is appointed unto man to die. It’s an appointment that we all have. We’re going to die one day.

It’s a very frustrating thing, isn’t it? And nobody is able to do anything about it. Or they’re working on it. They would like to stop it they would like to put an end to it.  But it’s not possible. And you find the frustration in yourself. You remember when you were young? I remember when I was young. I remember my hair being all black. As a very young man, used to have hair all the way up to here. Always looked at the mirror and made sure my hair was just right. I loved that black hair, all black and then slowly these gray hairs started coming one by one. And I used to be careful every day to pluck off every gray hair I saw because I didn’t want to go out with any gray hair, then it got to a point where there was more growing then I can plug and then it all became gray. Now when you go to the barber shop he says what can I do with this? I can only make it black completely you want to make it all black? I said, no everybody’s dying man. Leave it alone. Everybody’s getting old. Everything that is born has to get old has tom die. Everything is on a decay process. It has certain. Creation goes through the process. Every tree everything that is there has a certain age, that’s all, there for so many years and gone. That’s it every human being born has only so many years. Back in Adams days, and thereafter, for some years, some of these guys were living for 900 years. And you read about in the Bible in the first few Chapters, then God came to a point where he saw the wickedness of the people and that flood came and destroyed, everybody in all those things happened, wickedness was unbearable. Then after the flood, and everything was over, God said, listen, that’s it, I can’t take it anymore. Too much wickedness. And we don’t want all the rowdies and the wicked people in the world for living for 900 years.

The Earth cannot bear it all these bad people living for 900 years, you want to live in a world like that. So God said, I’m going to put a stop to it, I’m going to put an upper limit that’s going to be 120 years and no more. It’s there in the Bible. 120, and no more, and I thank God for it. That’s what makes the world livable. Because good, bad or ugly, everybody’s gone. 120 is the upper limit. Nobody lives beyond that. He said. And that’s been the case for a long, long, long time. So everybody that’s born expects to die after so many years, that has become a reality of life. And it frustrates us many times. Sometimes I think they’re trying to make people live and live on and on and on. I don’t think they’ll ever be able to do it. Because it’s just not possible. The frustration is there. The creation has entered into a frustration. And we are also created beings we have also entered into frustration we are not able to do anything about it. So Paul uses those words, he uses the word frustration. Secondly, he uses the word decay. In verse 20. The word decay, everything is decaying. Decaying, because it’s a process, it happens. That’s it. The cosmos is decaying or running down. The whole universe is like that. It’s all running down, dissipating increasingly becoming useless. And Paul was definitely thinking about death itself, which comes to all living things. So that everything is dying. So he talks about frustration, the second word he uses is decay. And the third word he uses is bondage. The word bondage. Now, both these words are found in verse 21, because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption. Now my translation uses the word corruption.

NIV, I think uses the word decay, frustration and all that that’s a better translation probably when it comes to this passage. So the creation itself will be delivered from the bondage of corruption. He says the creation is in a bondage to corruption that is to decay. So three words frustration, decay and bondage. What is bondage? Bondage is where you get into a state where you are not able to do anything about it. A slave has no right. He has no power to do anything about his plight. He’s a slave. And that’s it. He can’t do anything about it. He’s got to just live as a slave. He cannot deliver himself, someone has to deliver. And that’s why Paul says, “Creation was subjected to futility or frustration not willingly, but because of him, who subjected it in hope. Because the creation itself also will be delivered.” It will be delivered; the creation can’t deliver itself because it’s in bondage to decay. It’s frustrating, it’s not able to do anything, but the creation will be delivered from that bondage of decay into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Again, it links what happens to man and what happens to creation? How the creation is going to be delivered, it’s going to be delivered in the same way man is going to be delivered into the glorious liberty that belongs to the children of God. What is the glorious liberty that belongs to the children of God? It talks about it in verse 23. Not only that, but we also have the first fruit of the Spirit. We are souls grown within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.

Now there is talking about redemption of our body for human beings. What is that? If you read 1 Corinthians 15 is talking about how the dead will be raised and the living people will be transformed. Their bodies will become new they’ll have a glorious body and an undying body, a body of honor. It’s talking about how the body will be changed in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye when Jesus comes, and people will enter into that state of being where decay will not will be no more, death will be no more. That is the most frustrating thing as a pastor, I’ve been to so many places where people have died. And I’ve got to burry. And it’s not just old people dying. Sometimes it’s very young people dying. It’s very small children dying, sometimes very unexpected, tragic deaths. And it’s one of the most difficult things to handle as a pastor, any human being is unable to take it, sometimes I go when they go to their house, or all the way I’m thinking what am I going to say to them? What am I going to speak? What am I going to say? When I go there I have nothing to say. Usually, after all the experience I have, I usually have nothing to say because what can you tell a person was undergone a terrible tragedy of losing some loved ones, in a very unusual circumstances, most unexpectedly. What do you say. They’re crying, unbearable is their agony. And I’ve noticed, always God gives me something to say, from the Bible. So when I go there, I will never say anything. Usually I’ll just open the Bible, I’ll first sing a song. And I’ll then open the Bible and start reading it, and then just start saying a few words. And this is not an exaggeration. Almost every time I’ve noticed, every time I would say not almost every single time, tears will be wiped off. And people will sit up straight When they hear the word of God spoken to them. Somehow the piece of heaven comes into their hearts.

Those people that read profusely crying will wipe away the tears because the word of God wipes their tears away. When we all get to heaven the Bible says that He will wipe our tears away, there will be no more death, there will be no more tears, he will permanently get rid of our tears. Just imagine a world without tears. World without death. That’s our future, my friend. That’s where we are headed. That’s what is awaiting us. So frustration, decay, bondage. This is what the world is in and it’s waiting eagerly. What is it waiting, it is waiting for our redemption to come the bodily redemption to happen for us, for us to receive a glorious body and undying body. In other words, it’s waiting for Jesus to come so that the transformation of our bodies will happen. When we are changed, you will see the creation also changed. That is why they are waiting like that. So the world is God’s world. It’s not in the way that it was created to be. It’s not in the condition that God created it to be. The third thing is the word will be renewed, the Bible teaches that the world will be renewed. When will it be renewed? When Jesus comes when we receive a new body or resurrection body and a glorious body, when we are transformed in that way, the creation will receive its transformation. Now, not much is taught in the Bible about the great details of it. But we get a clue here, because it is referring to the redemption of our bodies. And saying when we receive our redemption of our bodies, our undying body, glorious body, the creation also will receive its transformation.

I believe that it will be something like what happens to the body, it will be something like a resurrection that happens to our body, it will happen to creation. It will be something like the transformation that happens in our body, it will happen to the creation itself. Verse 21, says it because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. The creation is going to enter into the glorious liberty that we will enter into. We will be changed the entire creation will be changed. When God made Adam and Eve and put them in the garden made everything for them and put them in the garden. The devil looked at it and he was so jealous. He wanted to destroy the plan of God the purpose of God. He was so keen on destroying everything that God had planned, he listened to God saying to Adam, don’t eat the fruit of this tree. If you eat of it you will surely die. And then he decided, well, just one thing I got to do make sure that he eats this particular fruit. If he eats this particular fruit, all of God’s plan will be destroyed, man will be dead and gone. Therefore, God’s plan will not succeed. So man ate it. And man fell into sin, and along with him, creation fell into sin. But what the devil did not expect was God came on the scene in Chapter three, verse 15, he began to declare how he’s going to redeem the man as well as the creation. He said, I’ll put enmity between your seed and her seed, he will crush your head, and you will bruise his heel. He declared that a redeemer is coming, and redemption is coming. You’ll push them into the fall, you brought them into the curse, but I’m going to send a redeemer that will bring them out of the curse and the fall, and bring them back to God and bring them back to the blessing.

That’s what God was declaring. And what kind of world is it going to be when we receive our new bodies, when we become transformed when Jesus comes. I mean, if you believe Jesus is going to come, when he comes, our bodies will be changed. And what is going to happen to the world? I said, not too much detail is available. But there is a little bit of detail available, I’ll just read the Bible to you. Chapter 11 of Isaiah gives us a picture of what that world will be like. Chapter 11, verse 6, the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and the little child shall lead them. Interesting I saw a few days ago, on the YouTube, a little goat being protected and fed by a tiger. The tiger would have long time ago eaten and finished with that, but it was protecting it very zealously protecting it, raising that little goat. Amazing. I think what’s going to happen in the new world, is already available for us to see in some cases here, some traces of it is available right now. Leopard shall lie down with a young goat, it says, the cow and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them, the cow and the bear shall gaze, the young one shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like ox. The nursing child shall play the Cobras hole, and the wind child shall put his hand in the wipers den. What a description. They shall not hurt, not destroy, in all my holy mountain. They shall not hurt or destroy literally means that there will not be anyone that will hurt or destroy, there will not be an evil person, they’re not one evil person, one destructive person will be there. That’s what it means.

For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. That’s the future we are headed to. He’s telling the people look, living for Jesus is worth it. Because this is the glorious future that we have. The Bible gives the most reasonable explanation. Not only where the world came from, how the world was made, not only a word reasonable explanation of how the world should be cared for, looked at. The Bible also gives a very reasonable explanation about what is going to happen to the world in the future, how it’s going to be restored from its fallen state to a glorious state. The Bible gives us a very reasonable explanation of why we are like that, why the world is like that, and what is going to happen to us and what is going to happen to the world in the future, what redemption has in its plans for us, what redemption we have now on what part of redemption is going to happen later, when Jesus comes. These are the things that the Bible are sure about. These are the things that Paul is keeping before his eyes. He can see the glory that is to come. That is going to be seen in us and that is why he is not afraid of the persecution. He’s not afraid of the troubles. He doesn’t back off. He’s willing to suffer any amount of suffering because the glory is greater even to die he’s ready because he knows I predict that is good already, there is glory eternally, forever and ever.

Now, why did we teach this today? Now this is something that is not taught very commonly. But why do we teach this today? Why this is significant for us? Not just some theological lesson. No, it is very practical thing. When you learn this, you know what? You will not be frustrated when bad things happen in the world. How many Christians are very frustrated when they see bad things happen in the world? They cannot find answers for why it happened. They’re searching for why it happened, how it happened. What’s the problem? Why didn’t God intervene? Why did this happen, that happened, and so on. But when you know what this is all about, when you know this truth, you will not be surprised when these things happen.  You know exactly what is happening because it’s an imperfect world. It’s a world where sinners live, it’s a world where that nothing is perfect. You cannot expect anything to be perfect. No. It’s an imperfect world. Therefore, all kinds of things happen in this world. And when things happen, we are not surprised by it. We’re actually comforted by the fact that this is not our future. This is not our end, the future that God has, or us is something different, is something far better than this. It provides a great comfort, I have found that this truth provided comfort in many places where I’ve had to comfort people at the time of death and so on.

Secondly, you will not place your hope, your ultimate hope in anything human beings can do to improve this world’s conditions. Nobody, and very simply put, nobody’s going to make this world perfect world. There are people, men and women who will promise that they will bring in the best in the world have been they will make it the best world possible. From historically, if you just look at it, all kinds of men have promised that. Some kind of Utopia have been imagined and promised many times. Nobody has been able to bring it. Some improvements can be done in some countries, they’ve completely gotten rid of poverty many years ago, I remember reading something about Sweden. They said there’s nobody suffering from hunger. They don’t know what hunger is. An average person is well taken care of, their government takes care of them. But the same article said that Sweden has the highest rate of suicide. I was surprised to find out, well, the government takes care of everything. Everything is paid for. You don’t have to worry about anything, you will never end up in street, you will never like anything. Why do people commit suicide? What’s wrong? This world is not a perfect world. There’s so many things that are wrong with this world. You cannot make it a perfect world. Nobody can make it a perfect world. And that increases my faith and my hope in Jesus Christ, because he’s the only one that can make it perfect. And he is coming just to make it perfect. unless he makes it perfect, this redemption will not be complete.

Redemption has begun. I’ve experienced forgiveness of sin, that’s redemption. I’m explaining power over sin every day, by the grace of God, that is redemption. But I’m going to experience a world without sin one day, and that is when redemption comes to his consummation and completion. And without that redemption will not be complete. The answer is Jesus Christ and what he has done. So our hopes are not in anybody. When we hear people promising this and that, we only laugh at it. Because we know only Jesus Christ can do what these people say they can do. Nobody’s ever done it, nobody will ever do it. Only Jesus will be able to do it. That’s where we are headed. And that makes me keep my eyes on Jesus. I’m looking while I’m living and enjoying my life in this world, why I’m living for God and doing what God has called me to do. While I do my best to do everything well and do everything good and so on. While I seek to live with a vision and be successful in whatever I’m doing, I’m always looking for the coming of Jesus because that is going to be more glorious than anything that I have experienced than anything that anybody has experienced. He is coming and it’s going to be millions of times better than what we have ever imagined. That’s how glorious it is going to be.Amen. Let’s stand up together please. Let’s just lift up our hearts and our hands to the Lord and give thanks.