Already And Not Yet

Romans at chapter number 8 Romans at chapter 8 commencing in verse 18 through verse number 25 cause letter to the church at Rome chapter number 8 commencing in verse 18 for I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us for the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God for the creature was made subject to vanity not willingly but by reason of him who had subjected the same in Hope because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God for we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now and not only they but ourselves also which have the firstfruits of the Spirit even we ourselves groan within ourselves waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our body for we are saved by hope but hope that is seen is not hope for what a man see if why Duffy yet hope for but if we hope for that we see not then do we with patience with endurance wait for it thank you you may be seated the grass withers and the flower fades with the word of our God shall stand forever I want to talk a moment from this subject already and not yet already and not yet we are in the kingdom of God already and not yet Romans chapter 8 deals specifically and particularly with our life in the spirit and there is a dual nature in us we have the Spirit of Christ but we still struggle with our fleshly nature we are already children of God and not yet because there is a duality in our person we are spiritual on one hand and carnal on the other hand we are victorious on one hand and utterly defeated on the other hand there's a war going on my flesh wars against my spirit I have a new nature in that I am born of the Spirit of God and at the same time I am carnal in my desires I want to do the right thing but evil is always present the good that I would do I find myself not doing and the evil that I thought I had given up the evil that I don't want to do that's what I do because I am in the kingdom and not yet Paul in Romans chapter 8 does a masterful job of laying out for us in a very strong theological perspective what belongs to us as children of God we have an adoption then we have an assurance then we have an affluence that belongs to us as children of God but even though we have life in the spirit there is still the war with our flesh there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Paul says for they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh but they that are after the spirit the things of the Spirit he says for to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God but if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus Christ from the dead dwell in you then he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you for as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the sons of God for we have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but you have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba Father the spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are children of God and if children that we are as of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ if so be that we suffer with him that we may be also glorified together that's that's high church the strong spiritual talk but then we got to get our feet back on the ground and recognize that although I walk in the spirit I still struggle in my flesh this this duality of our person this this already and not yet strains the serious Christian because we really want to please God I said the serious Christian really seriously honestly wants to please God but we have a sworn enemy Satan himself who battles with us on a daily basis to keep us from pleasing the God we say we love I've come to love this him come bow fount of every blessing because that him says prone to wander lord I feel it prone to leave the god I love here's my heart Lord take and seal it seal it for thy throne above I really mean that when I see it but as soon as church is over as soon as I get up from my knees in my devotional time the spirit that I just cleaned I love I do something to displease because there is a war in my members my brothers and sisters I'm not trying to discourage the Christian walk I'm trying to tell you when you're a serious Christian it's of stress it's a strain it's a struggle always because when you want to do right Satan will not let you do right because you're all nature will always come up and sometimes the spirit gets the victory and then sadly about times when the flesh gets the victory that's why I think you ought to come to church every chance you get that's why I think you ought to read the Bible every chance you get you ought to be in the company of godly people you ought to ask God constantly to feel you with His Holy Spirit because every on every hand on every turn the devil is trying to snatch you from the father's hand this word is word of already and not yet it's tension for me because I know I'm a child of God I know I've been born again I know my name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life I know I've been called to preach I know that these are things I'm not guessing about I've never had but I still struggle daily to please God but now if some of you have figured that out god bless you thank you I wish you would give me your secret but there are those of us in here who know we've been saved no we've been changed know our names I've been written in heaven but every day it's a strain it's a stress it's a struggle I mean to do right when I get up in the moon but before nightfall the real Terry Anderson shows up I wish I had my 7:30 to ground honest people come to church at 7:30 who recognize that you ain't got it all together yet you're Christian but you're still struggling you've been born again but you still got some issues you're no God but every time you desire to do good evil is always present yeah let's look at what the Texan for I record that word record is an accounting term I reckon that's a mathematical term that's it that's an accounting term I reckon Paul says when I when I put it all on the scale when I balance it all out when I look at it on one hand and look at it on the other hand I reckon oh that that one side outweighs the other side we are suffering in this world that's on one side but but on the other side the scales will be balanced when he comes again I'm struggling right now but God's go straighten it out I'm going through it right now but God's gonna level it all out I'm having a hard time right now but this too shall pay I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will ultimately finally be revealed I'm gonna get back to that in a minute but let me say two or three things here and I'm gonna leave you alone already and not yet Paul talks about while we are in this world in this fresh in this body we are constantly groaning groaning first of all creation is groaning earthquakes in Chile and in California and in some places here in Texas is creation Corning a mudslide in Washington State polar caps melting unusual weather patterns that researchers are calling global warming effects groaning we had an unusually bitter winter the summers seemed to me to be getting harder floods carrying away whole town the earth shaking under our feet that's creation groaning call it global warming call it unusual atmospheric conditions call it tectonic plates shifting underneath there its crust whatever you want to call it its creation wanting to get back to what God created it to be that was not happening before Adam and Eve sinned I wish I had a Bible reader because the Bible says before Adam and Eve sinned it never even read God watered the earth with a Miss vegetation was lush and growing they had never heard thunder before the earth had never shook before rivers had never overflowed their banks before all of this is a consequence of sin I wish I had a witness here when Adam sinned he plunged the creation into suffering the world the earth the atmosphere everything is out of kilter because of see creation is groaning trees are budding before their season fruit falling before time because the creation doesn't know what's going on its groaning its is suffering underneath the pattern of seeing brothers and sisters not only does creation grown with earthquakes and floods and and mudslides and an atmospheric kinds of conditions that have never happened before the creation groans but also the Christian growth you you don't have to be old to testify right here that you're not the person you were 15 years ago some of y'all getting kind of quiet now because you you have dyed it I said you've dyed it d ye d you died it you've tucked it in you cut it back you straightened it out you're trying to make it look younger and fresher but the truth is you're groaning let me see if I can help somebody here you can't run as fast as you used to run your mind is not as quick and nimble as it used to be you can't see without your glasses now never got a witness here you go in the room to look for something and got to back up to try to remember what you just went in there for you're looking for your car keys and in your hand you're looking for your eyeglasses and you got them on you wake up in the morning and got to sit on a while for you can figure out where you are never got a witness here if it's not your shoulder is your knee if it's not your knee is your back if it's not your back is your elbow there's a leak I wish I had a witness in this whole building and one day my soul has got to move it's always something cracking and leaking and leaning because even as a Christian I'm groaning let me talk to some real Christian in here this morning you ever been so sick you couldn't pick your head up off the pillow you ever been so burdened down and couldn't figure out really what you could put your finger on that was going on with you I wish I had somebody to help me you were in a room full of people but you were still lonely house full of company but you just couldn't get yourself together because that's something that the Christian needs that human companionship can feel sometimes I get lonesome for heaven and and I want to be with the one who created me I got brothers and sisters I got friends and family but this is not my home I'm a pilgrim I'm a stranger traveling through this parent land and thank God I don't want to get comfortable in this world now let me see if I can unpack that for you this world is in a mess I mean you can hardly look at a commercial without some sexual or homosexual overtones in the commercial you can handle watch television with your children talk back to me if you can modern family is a disgrace what's going on in the sports world what's going on on the streets what's going on on the news every time you read the newspaper is a rape it's a child being molested if some woman being murdered it's some crime being committed if you can get comfortable with that you're not a child of God because the child of God is not comfortable in the world whereas rape and incest and murder and crime and killing and stealing this world is not my home as believers we make the mistake when we cling to tenaciously to that word that to that which will not last this stuff that you got this house that you brag on this car that you can't get through shining these shoes that you've got stacked from the flow up to the ceiling these clothes that we wear this money that we accumulate is temporary I said it's temporary I was talking about it with the past the last week that's nothing glamorous about getting old we we have romanticized it and glamorized it to make it look something to be something appealing something to look for but I'm not looking forward to medicine every day I'm not looking forward to pain when I wake up every morning right now it's just every other morning but I understand once you cross the certain threshold if it ain't one thing is another and then if you're not having any physical trauma it's your children that's about to kill you it's members of your family who own your heart and you always pray and form and you're always hoping the best for them but they don't seem to be listening to anything you have to say if you're comfortable with that you're not a child of God we are pilgrims here strangers here traveling through this barren land the late dr. C BT Smith who preached a few years ago before he went to be with the Lord he preached that the church without walls and in that message he was making comment of the past the West that sent a car to get him at the hotel and he said waiting for his car he came out of the elevator came from downstairs and he saw a young man with the trade but some breakfast on it with some roses and the newspaper on his own and dr. Smith said he got out of the elevator and said the buddy where you're going he said my wife and I are on our honeymoon and I'm gonna surprise her with her breakfast in bed and I got some roses here and I've got my newspaper under my arm and dr. Smith she said have a good time enjoy yourself go upstairs meet your wife surprise her with her breakfast and flowers and read your newspaper and he said I got in the car and went to the church without walls and I thought about it one day he won't be carrying a tree with breakfast and flower he's gonna be caring a tree with medicine to a woman who don't even know his name because life will shift on you somebody ought help me preach it one day that woman who is beautiful and young and fine will perhaps end up with dementia and not even know his name enjoy yourself young people have a good time run as fast as you can learn everything you can be young as long as you can but somebody here who's crossed that threshold and I don't know where that threshold is because for every one of us it's a different number but all of us will cross that threshold when life will start to turn on us and ask questions we will start to grow one there's an MRI on your knee and it ain't nothing about arthritis and somebody will tell you to take this and somebody will tell you to take that and you will take this and take that but the truth is you're groaning under the weight of seeing you already a child of God but because of the strain that comes our way we are not in the kingdom yet but here's the good news everything prior to this has been bad news the creation has been groaning the Christian has been groaning but Reed is right here in the text Paul says the comforter comes alongside us and groans with us I wish I had one or two more believers it in my stretch in my strain as a believer I have a helper I have a comforter who comes along side me to help carry my load and then when my Lord gets to heaven he takes it upon himself so that I don't even have to bear it at all you gonna help me preach this once it thank God for the Holy Ghost I said thank God for the Holy Ghost he doesn't come to make us tongue talkers and holy dancers he comes to make us enjoy the Christian life he comes to shoulder a burden to get under unload because as long as you live in this flesh you will constantly grow but you're gonna help me close this won't you Paul does not leave us in the dark concerning how God will take care of us he says likewise read the rest of it when you get home the spirit who understands our infirmity he groans with us he's with us in our struggles he's in with us in our pain and then Paul goes on to close that great chapter by saying for we know I wish I had two or three Bible reading for we know in spite of our groaning in spite of the misery that's in this world in spite of the trouble that's going on in our families in spite of the doctor's visits and the pain that's in our body because if you live long enough you're gonna start losing your loved ones and you're going to be in the world perhaps by yourself all your brothers and sisters are gone your mother and father are gone and if you look at that long enough it could discourage you but Paul says we know I wish I had somebody to help me here in spite of the fact that you get fired on your job in spite of the fact that your friends turn against you for we know in spite of the fact that there are some no-good people who come to church and tell you one thing in your faith and something else behind your back for we know in spite of the fact that you get lonesome for heaven and home and it looked like things are not going to work out in your favor if you are a child of God for we know I wish I had one or two more Bible readers it sometimes it gets difficult being a Christian sometimes the burden is almost more than we can handle sometimes the strain shows on our faces but we know sometimes the head is almost insuperable sometimes the burden is almost incalculable but we know I wish I have two or three witnesses if we get hurt sometimes we get a light on some time we get abused sometimes we get misused sometimes but we know that all things work together for the good to them that love God and to those who are the called according to his purpose for whom the Lord calls I wish I had a witness it he predestined and who the Lord predestined he has already called them and after he calls them he sanctifies them that means God sets them apart for himself that no matter what comes my way God's got my back no matter what my enemy tries to do to me I will be victorious no matter what the devil throws at me God will give me the victory no matter how dark the night no matter how long the day no matter how many tears I shed weeping may endure for a night but if I just hold on joy will come in the morning this present suffering is not to be compared with the glory that will be revealed in us because at the end of that passage in chapter 8 chapter 8 verse 25 Paul says if we wait for it if we wait for it I said if we wait for it we already got it but we still got to wait for it let me see if I can make that make sense do you think I'm shouting right now but you ought to wait a while you think I'm praising God right now you just wait a minute you think I'm lifting my hands right now wait until I'm fully adopted wait until I fully get my reward is there anybody here waiting on the earnest expectation what the word earnest means is that the Holy Ghost came and made an earnest payment you know what an earnest payment is when you're getting ready to buy a house you don't have all the money but you want the real to the know that you're serious about the precious so you come up with some earnest money to let them know it's not mine yet but I'm already paying down on it I wish I had a witness in this jar that I have it's already mine but I'm still paying down on it and you ought to be there when he called my name is there anybody here getting ready to shout right now you think I'm praising God right now wait till my breakthrough comes you think I'm raising my hands right now we tell my answer comes you think I'm giving God glory right now wait till my full adoption time is there anybody here waiting on Jesus say that wait come on grab somebody's hand and tell them they that wait upon the Lord shaoren news - friends tell somebody they shall mount up also had a witness with wing-like eagle why should I feel this color and why should the shadows come why should my heart be lonely and low for heaven and home when Jesus is my portion my constant swimming he his eye I said his eyes his eye is on the sparrow and I know he watches me why don't you grab somebody why don't you shake somebody's hand tell them I sing because I'm happy I say because I'm free I'm not home look I'm shouting right now but just as soon as my feet strikes on I'm a laydown my heavy burden I'm a-tellin thank you for all you've done for me Frankie Frankie Frankie Frankie Frankie Frankie I know he's alright Yasu children I'm just a stranger this world is not my home mom I'm looking for a city whose builder and maker is God we know that if this earthly House of this Tabernacle is dissolved we have another big the house not made with him but eternal in heaven some glad longer when this life is over and brothers and sisters one day is going to be over but when this life is over I will fly away no no sickness no more separation in our families no more death no more funerals no more passes no more graves for the former things are passed away Paul said we see through a glass darkly but then face to face I will know even as also I am known and then John says beloved behold what manner of love have the father bestowed upon us then we are now the sons of God but it does not appear what we shall be but hallelujah we know that when he comes we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is I'm on my way to the promised land I'm on my way to the city built Foursquare this world is not my home the whole while I'm here I'm groaning I miss my mother and father I miss my loved ones who have gone but one day I'm going to see them again but before I see them I want to see Jesus and tell them thank you for saving me thank you for going to the cross and dying in my place thank you for getting up one Sunday morning and because you got up I'm the firstfruits of your resurrection I'm going to get up as well because this world is temporary is fleeting and passing away the creature the creation and the comforter groans but then when the full adoption takes place God shall wipe all tears from their eyes and there should be no more death no more see for the former things shall be passed away then we shall see him as he is face to face we shall see him we shall behold him while we are in this flesh real groaning but one day we will see the one who died for us and thank him for our salvation and we will see him because dr. Caesar Clark said there's a rainbow wrapped around his shoulder to absorb some of the light of his presence so that the Saints might get a chance to behold his face just to behold him just to look at him just see him when I see Jesus I want to thank him for all he's done for me I'm in the kingdom already but not yet I'm shouting already but not yet because there's an innumerable caravan on that way to that city and John said I saw them coming from the north and the south and the east and the west and I asked the elder who are they he said these of a who've come through Great Tribulation and they washed their robes white in the blood of the Lamb

Channel: lillygrovembc

Views: 85,336

Rating: 4.7415729 out of 5

Keywords: Reverend Terry Anderson Pastor Lilly Grove Missionary Baptist Church Houston Texas

Id: 0mNWeQAxXDk

Length: 43min 48sec (2628 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 17 2015