♪♪♪ <i> female announcer:
What if one chapter</i> <i> could change your life?</i> <i> What if there was one passage
of Scripture that allowed you</i> <i> to leave the past behind you,</i> <i> to look beyond
your present challenges</i> <i> and provided the hope
for a brighter tomorrow?</i> <i> Turning the page
to these powerful words</i> <i> can turn a page in your life,</i> <i> giving you the confidence
you need for every step</i> <i> you take, words that contain
God's desire to breathe</i> <i> renewed life into you
through a divine promise</i> <i> just waiting to be claimed,</i> <i> a promise that you will never
be abandoned, never be alone,</i> <i> and always be cared for,
a promise that you are chosen</i> <i> and called by God.</i> <i> How would your life change
if you knew you could endure</i> <i> every trial, that nothing
could stand in your way,</i> <i> knowing there's nothing
God wouldn't do for you?</i> <i> Is it too hard to believe
that such an arrangement</i> <i> of simple words,
composed beautifully,</i> <i> authored divinely
nearly 2,000 years ago</i> <i> could be so great?</i> <i> What is this chapter?</i> <i> "Romans VIII:</i> <i> The Greatest Chapter
in the Bible."</i> ♪♪♪ Dr. David Jeremiah:
Hello, I'm David Jeremiah, The Bible is not a book
of cliches, far from it. But in Romans 8, a chapter that
I believe can change your life, we find the Apostle Paul
touching on a truth that is mirrored in our modern
saying, "No pain, no gain." Except Paul says, "No groaning,
no glory." In fact, that's the title of
my message today from Romans 8, "Groaning and Glory." Dr. Jeremiah: We're in the midst
of a series of messages called, "Romans VIII, The Greatest
Chapter In The Bible." And today, Paul is going to
connect something we all want, glory, with something
nobody wants, suffering. And we'll discover
why the groaning in this life can't begin to rival
the future glory we will experience with God. I hope you will join me
as we explore the connection between groaning and glory
on today's edition of, "Turning Point." ♪♪♪ <i>male announcer:
The act of writing out Scripture</i> <i> by hand
is a powerful practice.</i> <i> In fact, it is a command
directly from God.</i> <i> God understood how writing
with your hand</i> <i> imprints the words
on your mind,</i> <i> and that's why Dr. Jeremiah
has created,</i> <i> "The Written Word Journal."</i> <i>Use "The Written Word Journal"</i> <i> to write Paul's
wonderfully rich letter</i> <i> to the Romans, word for word.</i> <i>As you do, record your thoughts,
reflections, notes,</i> <i> and prayers
on the adjacent page,</i> <i>charting your personal journey
with God</i> <i> through the book of Romans.</i> <i> "The Written Word Journal"
is yours when you give a gift</i> <i> of any amount
in support of this program.</i> <i> And if you give $60 or more,</i> <i>Dr. Jeremiah will also send you
his current teaching series,</i> <i> "Romans VIII," on CD or DVD,</i> <i> along with a correlating
study guide.</i> <i> Or if you give generously
to the ministry,</i> <i> you will receive,
"The Written Word Journal"</i> <i> and a genuine leather,
"Jeremiah Study Bible,"</i> <i>in the New King James Version.</i> <i>Contact "Turning Point" today.</i> ♪♪♪ <i> female announcer: Thank you
for watching "Turning Point."</i> <i> Now, here is Dr. Jeremiah
with his message,</i> <i> "Groaning and Glory."</i> Dr. Jeremiah: Fellow pastor
and author, Paul Tripp, captured my thoughts precisely
when he wrote these words about camping. He said, "I am persuaded that
the whole purpose of camping is to make a person long for home." [laughing] Dr. Jeremiah: "On that first day
in the woods, putting up the tent is exciting,
but three days later, your tent has unpleasant odors
you can't explain. You love the taste of food
cooked over an open flame, but three days later,
you're tired of looking for wood and irritated
by how fast it burns. You were excited at the prospect
of catching your dinner from the stream running
past your campsite, which is reported to be teeming
with trout, but so far, you've just been able to catch the roots at the bottom
of the stream. You're now four days in;
your back hurts. There seems to be
no more wood to forage, and you're tired of keeping
the fire going anyway. You look into what was once
an ice-and-food-filled cooler to see the family-sized steaks
you have reserved, floating gray and oozing in
a pool of blood-stained water." [laughing] Dr. Jeremiah: Suddenly, you begin to think fondly
of home. You stand there hoping
that someone will just break the silence and say,
'Why don't we just go home?' Your four days
in the wilderness have accomplished their mission. They have prepared you
to appreciate home." Our world isn't a very good
amusement park. No, it's a broken place
groaning for redemption. And here, is meant to make us
long for there. Here is meant to prepare us
forever. I must tell you that this
message is about groaning. The word groan actually
sounds like it when you say it. When you say, "Groan." That's what you do. You groan. Now, the word groan appears
nine times in the Bible. Three times right here
in Romans 8. And when we study this passage,
we're going to discover that the whole creation groans,
Christians groan, and the Holy Spirit groans. A lot of groaning going on here. Let's talk first about
the creation that groans. The groaning in verses 19
through 22 is a reference to the non-rational animals
and inanimate creation, and it includes animals, trees,
mountains, rivers, planes, heavenly bodies. Paul says, "This whole world
in which we live is groaning as it anticipates
what God is going to do with the sons and daughters
and his family." That's you and me. And the whole world is groaning,
anticipating, almost wishing they could be
a part of it, but of course,
they're not humanity. They're the created world and
it pictures the trees groaning, and the rocks groaning
and the hills groaning. J.B. Phillips translates
this verse like this. He says, "Th whole creation is
on tiptoe to see the wonderful sight of the sons
of God coming into their own." When sin entered,
it all went south, and it's been there ever since. It will be until one day when
the earth, like all Christians, will also be renovated and
God will make all things new. Paul describes the present
condition of creation as subject to futility. Futility means that the lack of
ability to fulfill the purpose for which something was created. The earth today is not able to
fulfill the potential that God had for it because sin entered
and corrupted it, and it's paying the price. The agony of what we've been
through will one day be translated into the ecstasy
of what God has for us. In the meantime,
we're not there yet. We're here and
we're anticipating there. We're still on the camping trip. We're not home yet. Are you with me? So the whole creation
is groaning, and I hear people talk
about it all the time. Earthquakes, groan. Hurricanes, groan. Floods, groan. Fires, groan. The whole earth is groaning
because groaning is a sound you make when what you
anticipate has not yet happened, when the thing you long
for is not yet yours. This hold earth is longing
for the day. And the Bible says,
"that one day God is going to renovate
this earth and it will then become everything that
it was intended to be. That will happen
during the period of time in the millennial age. So the whole world is groaning. Creation is groaning. But did you know that
Christians are groaning, too? You say, "Christians
aren't supposed to groan." Well, listen to what Romans 8:23
says, "Not only that." "Not only that,"
not only the world is groaning, "but we also, who have
the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan
within ourselves, eagerly waiting
for the adoption, the redemption of our body." Now, Paul says that we groan. Why does a Christian groan? Let me suggest
three negative reasons and three positive reasons. But before I do that,
let me tell you, this is an expression
that you will never hear a preacher say very often
at least, and that is, all of us who are Christians,
if we're honest, we know we're saved. We know we're going to heaven. We know Jesus is on our heart. We now know the Holy Spirit
lives in us. We have eternal life; "peace
that passes all understanding. There is therefore now
no condemnation for those who are
in Christ Jesus." All of that is true,
and yet if we're honest, we know something's
just not quite right yet. And the reason it's not quite
right yet is because it's not
supposed to be. You were not created to find
your ultimate fulfillment in the world in which you live. That ultimate fulfillment
is reserved for the day when you are translated
into heaven, and you meet the Lord God,
and all will be right. But now, if we're honest,
all of us, we know, we love God, we love
the things we do. We love our church,
we love our families, but something's
a little bit off. Something's a little bit
out of sync. Something's just not quite right
and we groan because of it. "We groan, first of all,
because of the presence of sin in the world." Is not our world today
a descriptive commentary on Romans 8:20,
the futility of it all? Romans 8:20 says
that the world groans because of the futility
of it all. Christians groan
because we see futility. We groan, secondly, not only
because of the presence of sin in the world, "We groan
because of the power of sin in our own lives." We know we're saved. We know God has loved us
and given his life for us through his Son, Jesus Christ,
that he's bequeathed to us the Holy Spirit who lives
within us, that we should be able
to live a righteous and holy life,
but then we don't. And we fail. You think you're unique
in that respect? Let me tell you,
one of the most godly men who I've ever read about
in my life apart from Jesus Christ is
the Apostle Paul. And in the chapter in Romans
before the one we're studying right now, Paul said this,
"O wretched man that I am. Who will deliver me
from this body of death?" Paul understood that though
he was a believer in Christ and had been given a new nature,
he still had the old nature. And he called the old nature
this body of death. And if you study that,
in the history of the words that are used,
what he is saying is, "I'm a Christian,
but I still have this old body of death and it's a picture
of dragging a dead corpse behind you. The body of death." And we groan because of that,
don't we? We walk with the Lord. We live with him;
we walk in the Spirit. But periodically,
the ravages of the old nature make their appearance. And we're so disappointed
and we groan and we say, "Oh man, how did that
happen again? "And we groan, thirdly,
because of the practice of sin by those who are around us." Men and women, we don't live
in a perfect world. In many respects, we don't even
live in a good world in terms of morality
of the world in which we find ourselves. This is not an attempt to blame
other people for our problems. This is not trying to say,
"Okay, the reason we are the way we are is because
they're the way they are." No, no, no.
That's not what this is. It's a statement of reality. We suffer innocently
when others sin, whether it's personal
or corporate or international. How many of you know when some
of the things that are happening in our country today happen,
of which we have no part, we still hurt because of that. Someone told me that there's
an African proverb that says, "When elephants fight,
the grass gets trampled." When things are out there
in areas that we can't even control,
we often pay the price. And we groan because
in the back of our mind, we know this is not
what was meant for us but because we also know God has
something planned for us. And we groan awaiting that day. Those are the three
negative reasons we groan. Let me give you three
positive reasons that we groan. "We groan, first of all,
because we been given the Holy Spirit to guarantee
our glory." When you became a Christian,
the Bible says, "You got the promise
of the Father given to you, the Holy Spirit." We learned that.
He comes to live within you. We know he wants to be
the president. Immediately, he becomes
the resident. Paul speaks of the Holy Spirit
as the first fruits of the believer's salvation. In other words, the gift
from God and the Holy Spirit at the moment of reconversion is
the guarantee that one day you will be
fully and finally redeemed. And the Bible says because
we know that's true, and because the Holy Spirit
who is in us is the first fruits of that which is to come,
we groan awaiting the fulfillment of that
in our lives. We know there is more to come. We are so blessed by
the presence of the Holy Spirit, but we know there is still
so much more that God is going to give us, the first fruits
of the Holy Spirit. "We groan, secondly,
because we look forward to our adoption being final." What Paul is saying is that
when you become a Christian, you get the spirit of adoption. Ultimately,
there's more to that. You get the promise
of the adoption, and then ultimately, you get
the experience of the adoption. The experience of the adoption
actually takes place in the future. Inwardly, the believer knows
that there's ultimately going to be a time
where not only will he be in Spirit in the family of God,
he will be, in reality, in the family of God. His adoption awaits; the placing
of the son in the family awaits. And one day, that experience
will be his. And the Bible says Christians
groan anticipating that. We may not even know what it is,
but we know there's something yet to come that isn't here yet. And there's something within us
that says, "I'm not there yet. I'm still in the camping trip." "We groan, thirdly,
because we anticipate the redemption of the body." This is what Paul refers
to in the eighth chapter. He says, "One day our bodies
are going to be redeemed." I remember preaching a series on
heaven and I did a whole message called, "The Extreme Makeover,"
which is what happens to you if you're a Christian
when the rapture happens. Did you know that
when the rapture comes and Jesus comes back,
the Bible says, "Those who were dead in Christ,
they rise first in the resurrection body." But we forget that those of us,
if we're still alive on this earth, the Bible says, "On our way up, we're going
to be given new bodies." How many of you would sign up
for that today? [applauding] Dr. Jeremiah: Well,
here's what Philippians says. Let me read it to you. "For our citizenship is
in heaven, from which we also eagerly await
the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,"
watch this, "who will transform our lowly
body that it be conformed to his glorious body,
according to the working by which he is able to subdue
all things to himself." The Bible says that one day when
Christ comes back to this earth for his own, we are going
to end up getting a body just like the resurrection body
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our lowly bodies
will be transformed into the glorious body
of the Lord Jesus. Now, I don't know
about the rest of you, but that sounds like a pretty
exciting moment. And if you know anything
about that glorious body of the Lord Jesus
after he was resurrected, you get even more excited. Some of you will be so blessed
when I tell you, that after Jesus resurrected
from the grave and his glorious body, he ate. So somebody may have told you
when you get to heaven, you won't have any calories
because you won't eat. That is not true. There's actually trees planted
in heaven from which we're to eat. Remember Jesus one day showed up
in a room and nobody knew how he got there. He just was there. He was able to transport
his body into a closed, locked room to be in
the presence of his disciples. I don't understand all this. I don't even want to go there
except to say one day our bodies are going
to be transformed. And the Bible says,
in anticipation of that, we groan. And I can't think of anything
more accurate than that. How many you know,
the older you get, the more you groan
and the louder you groan. Isn't that true? We're are on this trip. It's preparing us for where
we're going to be, we're here, we're going there,
but in the process, we're in our bodies. And the one thing that kind
of keeps you going, when you think about it is, this is not going to be
the way it is forever. When the camping trip is over,
I get a new body. And the Bible says
when you understand that and comprehend it,
what you do is you groan. What is a groan? It's anticipating something
that has not yet happened and you look forward to it. There's one third thing
about this groaning, I told you it's
the groaning of creation and the groaning
of the Christians. But at the end of this little
section, verses 26 and 27, there's the groaning
of the Holy Spirit. If you listen carefully,
this will encourage your heart. "Likewise the Spirit also helps
in our weaknesses. For we do not know what
we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit makes
intercession for us with groanings
which cannot be uttered. Now, he who searches the hearts
knows what the mind of the Spirit is,
because he makes intercession for the saints
according to the will of God." There are times
when we're not able to pray. Have you ever had a time in
your life when you couldn't pray and you try to pray but somehow
the prayer didn't happen? I had a moment like that
when I was going through my cancer adventure years ago. They had done a scan and thought
they saw a spot on my spleen. And so, in order to know
what to do with that, they decided to do a biopsy
of my spleen. That is not something you ever
want to let anybody do to you if you have anything to say
about it because of the way they do it. They take a needle
about this long and insert it into your abdomen
until they find you spleen and then they extract
the tissue, and it's extremely painful. And we were in the room waiting
for this procedure to happen and I was with Donna. And the two of us
were there together. And I said honey,
"I know this is scary to you and let me pray." And I tried to pray,
and I couldn't pray. I tried to pray, and the words
wouldn't come out my mouth. Thankfully, I'm married
to a godly woman. She prayed way better than
I could ever have prayed. But I also know that
in that moment, the Spirit of God was present. And when you can't pray,
the Spirit--here's what it says, "We do not know
what we should pray for and the Spirit makes
intercession for us with groanings
that cannot be uttered." The Spirit takes
what we can't say and he lays it out
in perfect form for the Father, and our prayers are translated
into the Father's presence. Let me tell you
what this is not. Sometimes, you have to teach
something this way. Before you can tell them
what it is, you tell them what it is not. This is not,
as some have taught, a proof text for speaking
in tongues. Some have interpreted this verse
as arguing for prayer tongues. However, close examination
reveals that the believer isn't speaking at all. The Holy Spirit is making
the intercession. Moreover, the precise words
in Greek are groanings which cannot be uttered. Literally, the words might be
rendered unspoken sighings. In other words,
the communication is nonverbal, involving no speaking
of any kind. In other words, this groaning
is not words but groans. And it is not me but the
Holy Spirit who is groaning. "Let God be true
and every man a liar." This is the Word of God. I didn't make this up.
This is just true. This can't be what
some people say it is. It's a very convenient,
little landing place for people who have a point
they want to make, but that's not what this means. This is not some spiritual
tongue that nobody understands. This is the Holy Spirit
interpreting your prayers and my prayers to Almighty God. We don't even speak.
That's the whole point of it. We can't speak and that's why
the Holy Spirit has to speak in our behalf. But let me tell you
what this groaning is. Among the benefits of adoption
into God's family, is the special supernatural care
that the Holy Spirit brings to us. He is present in our lives
in moments of moral, physical and emotional weakness. He knows that he must approach
God in our behalf, and he takes our burdens
and brings them to the Father. Now here's the point
of Paul's detailed description of our groanings. He says in verse 18, "For I consider that the
sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
with the glory which shall be revealed in us." Right now, we're doing some
groaning in our bodies, in the anticipation
of what is not yet true because we see
what's going on around us in the world
that we don't understand it. It doesn't make sense to us. But here's what God
wants us to know. We're all in this situation,
in some respects because of what I said
in the first story. It's what we experience
right now that makes us long for the redemption. We know that God has something
way better planned for us. "Eye has not seen neither hath
mind been able to conceive what God has prepared
for those who love him." There's joy in the world,
we know that. The Bible says, "We're to enjoy
the good things that God provides for us." But as an overall picture,
this world has got a lot of problems. But friends, whatever discomfort
we have, it's not even worthy to be considered in light of
the glory which God has for us. So, men and women take
these words from Romans 8. Remember this teaches you
the priority of hope. What is hope? Hope is the anticipation
of something that is not yet happened. Hope isn't hope
so maybe it'll happen. For the Christian,
hope is the know so. Hope is the anchor in heaven
attached to the throne of God. You're on the other end of it
and you know that your hope is in heaven. But we're not in heaven yet. We're in the hope
period of time. So what do you do
when you don't have yet what you know you're going
to have? You hope. You anticipate. I want you to know that
when you get eternity right, when you get
the future right, when you know that God
has prepared a place for you and a plan for you,
one of the blessings of the groans and the glory is
the perspective that it brings. You will not be surprised when
things go wrong in this life. This world is not a good place. We live in a fallen environment. Your plans will misfire. You'll fail sometimes,
often destroy what you have spent long years
and much toil to accomplish. But we're not home yet. We're headed there. And in the anticipation of what
God has provided for us, we groan. Yeah, Lord. And that's why when we come to
the end of a message like this, there's only one thing we can do
and that's look forward to the day when,
that for which we groan, becomes the glory of our lives. We'll keep following the Lord
and doing what he tells us to do, but soon and very soon,
we're going to see the King. ♪♪♪ <i> female announcer:
Dr. Jeremiah will return</i> <i> in a moment to close today's
program, right after this.</i> <i> male announcer: Thank you
for watching "Turning Point."</i> <i> Dr. Jeremiah would like
to offer you,</i> <i> "The Written Word Journal,
Romans,"</i> <i> sent to you in appreciation
of your gift of any amount</i> <i> in support of this program.</i> <i> And for a gift of $60 or more,</i> <i> Dr. Jeremiah will include
his current teaching series,</i> <i> "Romans VIII:</i> <i> The Greatest Chapter
in the Bible,"</i> <i> on your choice
of CD or DVD,</i> <i> and a correlating study guide.</i> <i>Or if you give a generous gift
of $100 or more,</i> <i> in support of the ministry
of "Turning Point,"</i> <i> you'll receive,
"The Written Word Journal"</i> <i> and a genuine leather,
"Jeremiah Study Bible,"</i> <i> in Dr. Jeremiah's preferred
New King James Version.</i> <i> Thank you for your support
of "Turning Point."</i> <i> Contact us today.</i> <i> female announcer: And now,
with one last word</i> <i> for today's program,
here is Dr. Jeremiah.</i> Dr. Jeremiah: Everybody
in this life experiences a certain amount of suffering. But the glory Paul talked about
in Romans 8 is set aside for those who have put
their faith in Jesus Christ. Don't let this day go by
without making sure that the promise of eternal life
is yours. You can be certain of it by becoming a follower
of Jesus Christ today. To help you
on your faith journey, I would like to send you
a booklet called, "Your Greatest Turning Point." It will explain what it means
to become a Christian. And to help you grow in
your faith, please request our monthly devotional magazine
called, "Turning Points." The articles and daily
devotionals will inform and encourage you
in your Christian life. We'll gladly send both
of these resources to you, completely free of charge
when you contact us here at, "Turning Point" today. <i>announcer: In addition to these
free study resources,</i> <i> you can connect with,
"Turning Point" on the go,</i> <i> anytime, anywhere.</i> <i> Download the newly-redesigned
"Turning Point" app to listen</i> <i>to "Turning Point" radio, watch,
"Turning Point" television,</i> <i>read daily devotionals and more.</i> <i> Plus, for the young ones
in your life,</i> <i> the new "Airship Genesis
Pathway to Jesus" mobile game,</i> <i> an engaging narrative puzzle
adventure game</i> <i>that explores the life of Jesus,
available now for free</i> <i> on the app store.</i> <i> announcer: Next time
on "Turning Point".</i> Dr. Jeremiah:
He has called you. You love him. You're in this relationship
and God is working in your life. He's working
all things together. He stirring the mix,
so that what happens in your life is for his glory
and for your good. <i> female announcer: Thank you
for being with us today.</i> <i> Join Dr. Jeremiah next time
for his message,</i> <i> "The Greatest Promise
In The Bible,"</i> <i> here on "Turning Point."</i> ♪♪♪
