The Normal Christian Life by Watchman Nee
Freedom from Sin's Grasp - 6
Note: See the Answer Key at the bottom of this page to fill in the blanks.
Romans 8:18-30 The Future Glory
Paul now moves now from the present realities of sin being overcome in our lives through the completed work of Jesus in and through the Holy Spirit, to the ____________ ____________ __________ we will experience as believers. Paul starts this section by contrasting the suffering we endure _________ with the glory God will give us later. He then moves to the burden that sin placed not only on humanity, but all of _______________, and how the Spirit is given to assure us that God will ultimately prevail, and prevails now even in the worst of circumstances. Let’s turn to the Scriptures!
18Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will give us later.
Paul does not deny our suffering in this world or this life. What he does is remind us that the suffering, however severe, that we endure in this life is ______________ when compared to the glory he will give us later.
APPLICATION POINT: These words of Paul stand in stark contrast to the typical, American view of suffering. For Americans suffering is to be avoided at all costs. Every minor discomfort is to be removed from our lives, and we must find ways to make every task, faster, easier, cleaner and neater. While the sporting world offers the motto “no pain, no gain,” most Americans prefer no pain, easy gain remedies for life’s challenges, problems and suffering. As Christians we must not fall into the __________ _______ trap. The title of a book I once read sums it up well, “No Saints Suddenly.” This life is a test, which is filled with trials and temptations. While we may wish that becoming a Christian will give us instant peace, patience and prosperity, the reality is that none of those come instantly, and the presence of the Holy Spirit may well work in our lives to prod us out of peace that is merely the absence of war; patience that is really complacence, and prosperity that allows us to be rich in things and poor in spirit.
19For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are.
Paul now points to a reality that most westerners would fail to see: creation is under a curse, because of human sin. When Adam and Eve sinned God didn’t only punish them, He subjected the ground to a curse. Thus, ALL creation is waiting eagerly for the future day when God will reveal who his children really are. One day the “wheat” will be separated from the “tares.” The biblical view of that day includes a restoration of creation. Remember that the Book of Revelation teaches that there will be a ________ heaven and a ________ earth. Westerners are often extremely individualistic in our understanding of life. We are brought up with a concern for ourselves more than for society or creation. While some of us are more socially and environmentally aware than others, western Christians have often been contributors to the groaning of others and creation, rather than preservers and offerers of wholeness and life.
20Against its will, everything on earth was subjected to God’s curse.
Here Paul states the reality of God’s curse of creation, and also that the curse was “against its will.”
APPLICATION POINT: There are many people, creatures and components of the created order that cannot defend against the actions of “the curse”. There are two aspects to this curse—God’s part: God caused thistles and weeds to grow in the garden, and removed His hand of blessing on creation. This caused a great deal of difficulty for humanity that the first humans had never anticipated. God also killed animals to provide clothing for Adam and Eve, when He cast them out of the garden. Before the curse clothing wasn’t necessary, but with sin and the shame that accompanied it, people were uncomfortable without clothing, so animals paid the price for human sin. Humanity’s part: The cycle of sin set into motion by Adam and Eve has meant the slaughter of animals the destruction and altering of nature, and many other realities not necessarily tied to God’s cursing of the ground. Sin begets sin, unless it is removed by God’s grace. Thus, as redeemed people we are called to demonstrate the blessing rather than the curse in the way we live our lives. This means at least that we defend the defenseless. It also brings the obvious responsibility to be faithful _______________ over all of creation.
21All creation anticipates the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.
The promise of new life is not just for human beings according to these words of Paul—ALL of creation will be freed from death and decay. What a tremendous promise. This promise makes it easy for me, as a pastor, to answer a child’s question, “Will my dog be in heaven?” with a “Yes,” because if ALL creation is going to be freed from death and decay, then any lower being that hasn’t had the opportunity to respond to the salvation of Jesus, because it is NOT a human being, will be freed from the curse. Human beings are the ___________ beings that have the opportunity to be freed from the curse at any time. The rest of the creation must wait for God’s timing!
22For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
23And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children, (wait anxiously for sonship) including the new bodies he has promised us.
Paul recognizes that while the Holy Spirit within us gives us “a foretaste of the future glory,” the consequences of sin and the curse are so evident in our lives that we, too, “groan to be released from pain and suffering.” These words show that the “health and prosperity” gospel, which has been evident in one form or another since the late 1800’s mostly in America, simply doesn’t reflect the reality of our state as redeemed children still living in a fallen world. While being a Christian always brings with it many blessings, being a Christian does not grant us immunity from pain and suffering.
When Paul speaks of our waiting anxiously for the day when we will be granted “our full rights as His children,” he acknowledges that in his day, at least, Christians looked forward to eternity with eager expectation. One of the blessings Paul points out specifically is “the new bodies He has promised us.” As we grow older, each of us realizes that the “old” bodies God has given us aren’t what they used to be! Pain and suffering become part of the territory as we age. Life is more difficult in the physical realm as the years pass. Thus, we wait anxiously for that day when God will give us the new bodies we have been promised. One of the balancing points for us as followers of Jesus the joy of living in this life with Jesus Christ as the center and our eagerness to go and be with Him. As Paul put it so well, “for to me living is Christ, and dying is even better.” There is profitable service for us whether we are here or with Jesus. The key is living this life to the fullest in the power of the Holy Spirit, always recognizing that no matter how good (or bad) it gets here, the best is yet to come!
24Now that we are saved, we eagerly look forward to this freedom. For if you already have something, you don’t need to hope for it.
Paul points out the obvious here: we ARE saved AND we eagerly look forward to the ultimate freedom that salvation brings---eternal life with God. But we haven’t received the fullness of our salvation yet. Thus we must wait in hope for it.
APPLICATION POINT: Hope is one of the key attitudes of the Christian. There are many days when we wake up and it seems like the weight of the world is on our shoulders, but we hope for a better day. We have loved ones who don’t know the Lord, and they resist our attempts to share the Good News, but we hope for the day when they will know Him. We suffer the limitations of this life, but we hope for the life to come. Hope is not wishful thinking. Hope is not gullibility. Hope is an assurance that God will do what we haven’t seen yet! Therefore, ___________ is not a Christian word. Because of Jesus there is no hopeless situation. This is vital to our growing deeper in our faith in Jesus and our maturity as His followers, because when we fail, or when the world weighs us down hope gives us the ability to go on.
25But if we look forward to something we don’t have yet, we must wait patiently and confidently.
Paul underlines the “demeanor” of hope here. Hope is patient and confident when it comes from the Lord. We don’t have to press for God’s will to be done, or doubt that it will be done, because God’s will WILL be done! As we trust God more and more and put our faith and hope in Him, our patience and confidence increases proportionately.
26And the Holy Spirit helps us in our distress. For we don’t even know what we should pray for, nor how we should pray. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.
These are extremely important words! The Holy Spirit is always present in our lives as followers of Jesus. Particularly when we are in distress He is ready to help us. The Holy Spirit IS the Comforter. He comforts us in sorrow and loss, or when life doesn’t make sense. Many times we don’t know what we should pray for or how to pray. It is then that the Holy Spirit prays for us-------with groanings too deep for words.
APPLICATION POINT: Our prayers don’t always have to make sense to us! Sometimes we cry out or as Paul puts it we groan—guided by the Holy Spirit—because we don’t know what to say, or how to pray. We ought to use words as we can and then allow the Holy Spirit to intercede through us. As we become comfortable with letting the Holy Spirit pray through us, we will see that our prayer life deepens and increases commensurately.
27And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.
The Holy Spirit ___________ plead for us in harmony with God’s own will, because the Holy Spirit IS God! God the Father always knows what the Holy Spirit is saying, because it is God speaking with God THROUGH us. We cannot comprehend this, but the reality is that we are helped and strengthened when it happens.
28And we know that God causes everything to work together (some manuscripts “everything works together) for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
Romans 8:28 is one of the most frequently quoted verses in times of trouble and distress. That’s because it points out a vital truth about God: God ALWAYS causes EVERYTHING to work together for our good—if we love God and are called according to His purpose. This does not mean that ________________ is good, or that everything that happens in our lives will always be good. It means in EVERY situation, no matter how evil, or sorrowful, or seemingly meaningless, God can bring about good.
APPLICATION POINT: God’s people are not exempt from pain and suffering. We are, however, assured that in the midst of pain and suffering God is there working for our good. The good may be that we are strengthened directly by the Spirit, or that we are equipped to minister to another, or that someone comes to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior, or any of hundreds of individual and corporate goods that God can work. The key for us is to trust that in all things God WILL work for our good, as we love Him and are called according to His purpose.
29For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn, with many brothers and sisters.
What a promise! God knew us before He created us. He knew what we would and wouldn’t do. He knew the sins we would commit, and yet He chose us to become like Jesus! That way Jesus would be the “firstborn” in a huge family. Of course Jesus was the only “natural” child of God, since He and God are one. The rest of us are adopted out of God’s great love for us. When we doubt God’s great love, or when we’re having a really bad day (or week, or month), these words remind us that God’s plan for us in NEW LIFE now and forever!
30And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And he gave them right standing with himself, and he promised them his glory.
The only assurance we need that God’s words will come true is that He PROMISED them to us. We rely on the almighty power of God to complete the work that He started in us, before the foundation of the universe. God chose us, and God calls us to Himself. As we come He gives us right standing before Himself and He promises us that ULTIMATELY we will share eternal glory with Him. Talk about GOOD NEWS!!!!!
ANSWER KEY: really fantastic news, forgive, crucified, ultimate future reality, now, creation, nothing, quick fix, new, new, stewards, only, hopeless, must, everything
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