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Sermon of the Week 
Wednesday, September 30 2015

Grace, That Is Greater Than All Of Our Groanings

Romans 8:18 For we consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. v19 For the whole creation hopes for and eagerly awaits the revelation of the sons of God. v20 For the creation was subjected to futility (mat'-ah-yos…frustration) not of it’s own choosing, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope… v21 For the creation shall also be freed from the bondage of destruction into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. v22 For we know that all created things groan and are in labor until this very day. v23 And we also, who have in us the first fruits of The Spirit, groan within ourselves as we look for the adoption of sons and the redemption of our bodies, v24 Because we live within that hope, but hope that is seen is not hope, for if we see it, why do we still look for it? v25 But we hope for what is not seen, therefore, we wait patiently for it.

When you get to chapter 6 in the book of Romans, Paul shares with us, the benefits of the gospel, and they run all the way through verse 39 of chapter 8. So we have chapter 6 and chapter 7, which we could call the “no-longer section” of Romans. You’re no longer under the law. You’re no longer a bond slave or a slave to sin. You are no longer under the curse. You are no longer dead, you’ve come into life. You are no longer a victim of your flesh.

So you have a list here of freedoms, which include freedom from the law, freedom from sin, freedom from punishment, and freedom from death.

As you come into chapter 8 of Romans, you come into the positive aspects and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 8, is about what the Holy Spirit does in us, for us, with us.

The Father, Creator, laid out the plan, the Son, who is the Demonstrated Word, made the plan visible and touchable, and the Holy Spirit who is the Dunamos is the empowering presence of the plan and the word, and makes it all work together in the expressed will, and purpose of God.

Chapter 8, is a launching pad that sends us all over the New Testament to find connecting truths which expand our understanding of who we are, why we’re here and what is the Kingdom objective that God has ahead for us.

That’s what Romans 8:27 and 28 is telling us…. “And He that searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. v28 And we know that all things work together for the good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose”.

The Father designed and initiated salvation, the Son validated and confirmed salvation, and the Holy Spirit applies the reality of the experience of salvation.

The Father is the one who chose us, the Son is the one who redeemed us, the Spirit is the one who sanctifies us.

Election is the work of the Father who has chosen us, justification is the work of the Son who represents us, and sanctification is the work of the Spirit who is continually separating us for the Father’s purposes. The Trinity in glorious unity is engaged in this wondrous reality that allows us to be called the Children of God!!

We’re involved through the Spirit’s working within us, in an ongoing process of being transformed from grace to glory.

We’re no longer under condemnation but we are accepted in the beloved. We’re no longer under the sentence of death by the law but we are being brought under the higher law, which delivers us from the law of sin and death.

We have been given new life for we are called “New Creatures in Christ”. We have been regenerated, re-directed, re-fired, and re-aligned. We begin to experience the powerful ongoing ministry of the Holy Spirit and Paul tells us that we are going from “Glory unto Glory”….

And this is so critical for us to understand, because this is where we now are living.

We don’t have to camp out at yesterday’s blessing, or yesterday’s glory. We don’t have to try to reproduce something that scored a “10” on our spiritual “Wow” chart. For we are going from “Glory unto Glory”…..

God is saying, to keep moving forward, keep believing, keep surrendering, keep allowing the work of sanctification….because you ain’t seen nothing yet!!!!

Another thing…. We no longer have to allow the valleys of life to determine things that we can only see from the mountain tops. But we draw strength in the valleys and we allow His power to rise up in our weaknesses. We surrender to His work of Grace in the trials and tests and as we pass through.

Instead of becoming victims, we are made victors, instead of condemnation, we are clothed in the garments of a conqueror! We eat the meat and spit out the bones…we delight in the season we’re in because that’s the season the Father has given us.

Romans 8:19 says that this season and this place we’re in is “eagerly awaiting and anxiously expecting the manifestation of the sons of God”!!!!

We believe that “The Glory Is Greater than the groaning”…..

He’s changing our nature. Have you known folks who say they’ve been redeemed and yet they still have the same old negative, stinking nature. Romans says there aught to be a demonstration of the inner working of the Holy Spirit in a manifestation which looks like Jesus.

If we’re still talking, behaving, responding and reacting as we were before we invited Christ into our lives….We’ve got a leak somewhere!

I should be moving from Glory to Glory….. not from Glory to Groaning!

We are being empowered and glorified to continually allow His righteousness to overwhelm all unrighteousness.

1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”. Notice the word “From” which is very different from “for” unrighteousness. He didn’t cleanse us to just make room for more unrighteousness in our lives…..

Paul gives a clear list of “unrighteousness” in Romans 1:29

“Being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit. They are gossips, v30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, proud, boastful, inventing things for evil purposes, disobedient toward parents, v31 without understanding, the make promises they don’t keep, without natural affection, calloused, and unmerciful.” Just to mention a few…..for self-examination!

Romans tells us that we have the firstfruits of the Spirit or the seal of the Spirit, which confirms our adoption as sons of God. Whatever is happening in our lives, He’s not about to give up on us. We’re not foster children, who are waiting for someone to claim us….He has claimed us with His own blood. It is certified, sealed and registered in heaven, so let’s get on with it, and start acting like members of God’s family!

And Praise God, we are also told that He is guaranteeing or securing our future eternal glory. We move from Grace to Glory and from Glory to Glory here, and one day soon we will move on and transition into eternal glory!

God who chose us, called us, and justified us, is securing our eternal glory!

John 14:2 “In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. v3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also”.

The Holy Spirit is sanctifying us for His glory and guaranteeing His Glory for us!

Ephesians 1:13 tells us that “After we heard the word of truth, the gospel of our salvation, in whom also we believed, we were sealed with the holy Spirit of promise”.

We have the guarantee of the Spirit. Or as it says in verse 23, we have “the first fruits of the Spirit”, so that God is giving us the first fruits as a foretaste of the full measure of glory that is available to us. We have the down payment which is our guarantee of the Glory now, and all the future glory that lies ahead for our journey. By means of the glory, we are being conformed to the image of Christ. This is the transformative nature of the glory….

In Romans 8:17 Paul says… “If we are His children, then we are His heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified with Him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us”.

As we looked at our opening passage of scripture, we see that there’s a lot of groaning going on. It says that all of Creation is groaning. It says that it is the anxious longing of creation, And then it says that we ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit, are groaning. And then it speaks of the groaning of the Holy Spirit. This indicates that the creation, and ourselves, and the Holy Spirit are going through certain groanings, certain agonies, until the final realization of eternal glory.

If we were Jewish, we would have a greater understanding of this…. It is the groaning of anticipation. It is the groaning of unfulfillment. It is the kind of suffering that occurs when you’re waiting for the promise to be fulfilled…..Like the time You needed to go to the bathroom, but there are 3 people ahead of you….You rush to the airport, only to discover that your flight has been delayed for 4 hours and you already have a tight schedule. You have a big appointment, but you go outside and your car battery is dead.

Paul is describing all that we deal with in this this present age of sin and sickness and suffering and decay and corruption and fallen-ness and the frustration it can cause. While seeing all this, there is a knowing at the same time that the age to come is the age of the new heaven and the new earth and righteousness and purity and holiness and virtue and glory and the absence of the constant ups and downs, disappointments and failings, loss and denial, sickness and death and all that is part of living in a groaning world will be glorious beyond description.

You will notice that Romans tells us that “all creation hopes for and eagerly awaits the revelation of the sons of God”. This is the “go to” part of this entire scripture…..

For example, in Isaiah 35:1, Isaiah says, “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad.”

And again in Isaiah 55:12: “The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”

God really meant what He told Adam and Eve when he presented His creation to them. He wanted them to practice in the garden, so that they could handle the whole earth! Jesus told us that those who were faithful in what they had would be given more…. and then God made an incredible covenant in Genesis 1:26

“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. v27 So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them. v28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth”.

Someone said, (not me of course) that God created the heaven and earth and rested, then He created man and He rested, then He created woman and every since, neither God nor man have rested…..(I guess a lot of men have been a pain in the neck as well… Someone else said that God made man and said I think I can do better, so He made woman….(now don’t look for that in the King James Bible.)……

Even though the first man and woman, allowed Satan to break that covenant which was given them by God with the earth, it was renewed through Jesus who is the second Adam, and this is made clear in…

1Corinthians 15:45 “For it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. v47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. v49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly”.

Our new family tree, rises up from the second Adam, Jesus Christ. It is from that tree, we trace our linage. It is from that tree, we trace our new covenant. It is from that tree, we receive the glory which was lost by the first Adam. It is from that tree, all creation groans in anxious anticipation for the linage of Christ, through faith, to arise and demonstrate that the old is gone, the new is come…. That death has lost and abundant life has won… That faith is now the victory that overcomes the world, the flesh and the devil!!

As we have born the image of the earthly, we now bear the image of the heavenly!!!! The environmentalists, who are of the first Adam, can measure it but they can’t manifest it! Climate change advocates, who are of the first Adam, may monitor it but they can’t modify it! The change must come in the big and small ways of life, by the children of the Second Adam!

All that is part of the first Adam, will continue in a downward cycle, but those who look to the Second Adam, will move from Glory to Glory!!!!

Isaiah 9:6 “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government (power, rulership, authority and dominion) shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. v7 Of the increase of His government (power, rulership, authority, dominion) and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David (his linage), and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this”.

Somebody needs to get a vision of this….somebody needs to get their hands on some of this…..

The entire generation in which Enoch lived were all drowned in the flood except for eight people? Do you know how rare Enoch was? Can you imagine what it would be like to be the only guy other than Noah’s family in the entire world who was walking with God? You’re looking at a hero if ever there was a hero. (tell someone, “thank you for being someone’s hero)….Enoch was a man who lived against the grain of a culture that was so corrupt, God allowed millions of them in one world-wide flood, to be eliminated from the face of the globe.

Those folks had really gotten under the circumstances, and swept away by the cares of this world….The currents of the world are strong and can sweep you away from God, but Enoch survived because He walked with God in the glory, till the glory took him home. And for us church, we shall not only survive, but thrive as we walk in God’s grace and Glory that is greater than all the groaning going on around us.

Ephesians 2:4 “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, v5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace are you saved;) v6 And we have been raised up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

The key to turning it around is to understand that you are not under the circumstances, you are not in a rut, you are not looking up to see the bottom, and you are not in the situation you’re in to be brought down and come under it’s power, but you are the head and not the tail, you are above only and not beneath. You have been raised up and made to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus!!!!

They say that Country music describes losing the spouse, losing the house, losing your dog named scout, losing your money and your car and now you’re sitting at misery’s bar, busted and disgusted.

But Gospel music is about getting it back, getting your power back, getting your authority back, getting your dominion back, getting your joy back, getting your peace back, getting your love back!!! “I once was lost but now I’m found, was blind but now I see”…Remember this is all past tense, because what is, has always been, but I haven’t always seen it clearly enough to get on board and take the trip!

He made us alive…(that’s already done) He raised us up (that’s already done) He made us to sit in heavenly places in Christ (that’s already done!) His part is already done, we need to see it, believe it and act like it!!! If we are in Christ, then He is not only where we are, we are where He is! You can’t be in Christ and not be where He is!

Philippians 3:20 “For our conversation is in heaven also, where we look upon the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Hebrews 12:22 “But you are now come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, v23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, v24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and the blood of sprinkling, that speaks of better things.”

This is speaking of the realms of the spirit, it is the unseen dimension that is more real than what you can now see and feel with your five senses. It is the realm where God’s rule, authority and dominion can be tapped into so that we can bring influence and bring pressure to bear upon the physical world that is groaning for release all around us.

1 Corinthians 6:12 “All things may be lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient (to my best interest or advantageous) all things may be lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any”. We have been born again….Born back into the realm of spiritual authority and dominion that was lost in the garden, but regained in Christ. We are in a process of discovery, we are discovering the height, the breadth, the width and the length of God’s love for all of His creation .

I want you to see something in Ephesians 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus you who were sometimes far off are brought near by the blood of Christ. v14 For He is our peace, who has made us complete, and has broken down the middle wall of partition between us and Himself. v15 Having abolished in his flesh all that separated us, even the law that was against us, to make us one with Him, so making peace.”

The Lord is lifting you above your enemy, Satan and that automatically places Him under your feet, along with all the works that he is devising against you…. The way you defeat him is to take your rightful place in Christ, over Satan and above him!

The great obstacle, and the great hindrance to the spread of this message, is that we its champions, have not walked as "sons of God." The world will believe in the power of Jesus, our Lord and Master when it sees it manifested and reflected in us.

What if Billy Graham had just followed his family’s legacy and become a farmer in North Carolina like those before him, millions all over the world would never have come to Christ…..What if Martin Luther had become a lawyer as he had planned to be, there would have been no “Great Reformation” where the message of grace which had been distorted, was revived and went through all the earth…. What if Mother Teresa, who was just another teacher in a catholic school, had not gotten a calling to care for the poor of Calcutta India… Or what if the person who led you to Christ had been too busy with other cares and responsibilities…..

None of us can possibly fathom what an immense work will be set in motion by the manifestation in us of "a son of God," but we can see the distress and the groanings of this world. If we do not thirst sufficiently to be transformed, to see the work of God fulfilled and reflected in our hearts and lives, then the whole of Creation will feel the effects of our hesitation because it delays the desired deliverance and let’s the Devil win!

*…..Isaiah 35:2….”For they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God. v3 Strengthen the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. v4 Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence, He will come and save you. v5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. v6 Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.

v7 And the parched ground shall become a pool, and in the thirsty land shall be springs of water. In the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. v8 And a highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, and fools, shall not err therein. v9 No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go thereon, they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there.

v10 And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with singing and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and groaning shall flee away”. HALLELUJAH!

I believe the streams of healing, deliverance from fear and worry, streams of peace, and streams of His redemptive work in bringing restoration into your life, is flowing for you today….

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