 Good morning, everyone. Welcome Just got the recording started So I'm ready to go Okay So let's pray together and then we will start So the others will join us this morning and we'll have a good time and Romans we're moving forward from Romans chapter 8. Okay Could one of us just pray with a class and we will get started, please Father we thank you for this day Lord. We thank you how good you've been in our lives Jesus We love we submit and surrender this class into your hands father for the next two hours Lord I pray that you will continue to lead us Lord and how beautiful you've been leading us for the past three past weeks Lord We submit today session into your hands Lord. I pray that you will help us understand your word Jesus continue to pour out your wisdom over us father. I pray for a pastor even as he teaches us Lord Lord continue to guide him as you have been Jesus name I pray amen Hey, man, thank you Thank you everyone So we are in Romans 8 now very beautiful chapter we stopped at was 17 that's kind of how far we went I will just quickly review and then we will go forward from there so We like we spent a lot of time actually last week in these Just just looking at this for 17 verses of Romans 8 We we talked about how Paul As he's unfolding The teaching here Our shares is a own person experience in Romans 7 for 7 But it's not limited to his own experience. It's you know, it's generalist for every person Who desires to do good from the inward man, but Struggles with the sin ruling in the body and so when we begin in Romans 8 he says This is the answer. Thanks be to God The end of Romans 7 thanks be to thank God through our Lord Jesus Christ and then Romans 8 Here's the answer There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus Because we walk not according to the flesh but according to the spirit and then he opens this whole dimension of life in the spirit For to us as as believers he talks about the work of the spirit of life In us as believers that the Holy Spirit the spirit of life the life-giving spirit He sets us free from the law of sin and death So we looked at the law of sin, which was what he had referred to earlier in Romans 7 the sin that controlled the flesh and Death which was the by-product or the result of sin reigning in the body. This is the Holy Spirit sets us free However, it's important as Paul continues He continued he said we must be spiritually minded not Carnally minded if you kindly minded it will only result in death But when we are spiritually minded it'll result in life in peace And then he talks about how the Holy Spirit in dwelling the believer He Helps us put to death the deeds of our sinful deeds of our body So we as believers with the help of the Holy Spirit to Subdued sin and subdued the sinful deeds of the body Then he tells us how the Holy Spirit Leads us that everyone who's who's a child of God is led by the spirit of God and The Holy Spirit One minute the Holy Spirit Beys witness with our spirit that we are children of God. So we are led by the spirit. That's verse 14 The Holy Spirit dwells in us as a spirit of adoption verse 15 verse 16 He bears witness with our spirit and Then he says if we are children and we have this wonderful place of Being heirs of God and joint as with Jesus now, you know, just to spend time thinking about that that were 17 That the Holy Spirit coming into our lives As a spirit of adoption making us children of God Really in the spiritual realm has made us heirs of God and joint as with Jesus Christ at you have Imagine in the natural in the natural If you and I were to you know Be adopted in an earth into the family of an earthly King You know a powerful King That he gave us something That then qualified us to become an heir to that Kingdom joint heir with The one who is the first heir. So we become joint heirs and in an earthly sense, you know That immediately puts us in a place of standing of great standing in an earthly sense We've become heirs become joint as you know And the example that we could think of maybe is you know the monarchy and And I guess the most well-known monarchy would be that that's still kind of continuing Would be that in England And just imagine it's not gonna happen if we get If one of us, you know gets in there and becomes an heir or a joint heir The debt puts us in a tremendous standing But This is what has happened in the spiritual realm There's what Paul is bringing our attention to he says, you know, the Holy Spirit coming in like you know, he's doing all this, right? He's the one who's helping us Overcome the law of sin and death He's the one who's helping us crucify the sinful deeds of our body He's the one who is leading us because we are children of God. He's the one who's the spirit of adoption He's brought us into the family. He's the one who's betting witness with our spirit and Because of that we are heirs of God and joint as for Jesus So in the spiritual realm That's our standing heirs and joint as And it's perfectly fine to operate in that God wants us to Conduct ourselves as heirs of God and joint as with Jesus in the spiritual realm And so he says, you know end of word 17 is very paused he says If indeed we suffer with him That we may also be glorified together so It's okay For us to suffer Because we know we're going to be glorified with him so there is A sense in which we are glorified now But in which we do suffer now in which we are glorified now. That means we are able to walk in this A wonderful privilege of being heirs and joint as But there's also something up ahead that is Going to unfold Pitchball now begins to share with us starting from verse 18 Okay, so just a quick review. Let's move forward, please starting from verse 18 romans chapter eight We're going to read verse from verse 18. Let's Do 18 to 23 We look at that passage romans chapter eight 18 to 23. Please somebody could read it Well, I consider that suffering of this present time are not worthy to be Compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us for the earnest experience Of the creation are Equally Wait of the revealing of the sons of god for the creation was subjected to fulfill Utility Not willingly but because of him who subjected in hope because the creation itself also be That deliver from the bondage of corruption into the glorious Liberty Liberty of the children of god for we know that the whole creation cones Growns and labors with but big big guns Thanks together until now Not only that but we also who have the first fruits of the spirit even we ourselves groans within ourselves are Are You equally waiting of the adoption the redemption of our body Okay, thank you all right so this passage is quite unique because Paul or what Paul says here He doesn't share anywhere else like many other things in romans What Paul says here You don't find it anywhere else in any other episode So it's quite important looking at these verses here in romans 8 Was verse 18 we'll start with that So paul is saying, you know the sufferings that we are going through today right now They're not worthy to be compared to the glory which is going to be revealed in us. That's so he's pointing to a future glory So he says, you know, we are going to we are going through earthly sufferings now part of the sufferings that He's already addressed in the preceding verses, which we mentioned last time It has to do with crucifying flesh. So that that is suffering So that that's part of the suffering But he says, you know, and he's going to tell us a little bit more, you know, what's the cause of suffering But he says, you know the sufferings that we are going through in this present time It's nothing compared to the glory which is going to be revealed to us So there's something glory glorious That's coming up verse 19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of god So he's saying even creation is eagerly waiting For the unveiling of the sons of god. So We are already sons of god We are already heirs We're already joined as so that that is already done But there's something more that's coming up And even creation is looking forward to that It's going to tell us what it is. It's going to tell us So even creation is looking forward to that verse 19 verse 20 For the creation was subjected to futility Not willingly But because of him who subjected it In hope. So now he's saying all of creation was subject to Futility things that are futile, vain, empty or things that are you know, and as he talks mentions in the next verse things that are actually destructive So creation was subjected to it Not willingly that means it wasn't this was not necessarily the will of god for it to happen But God let it go while he let creation be subject to this futile, vain thing In hope because that means in anticipation of a future outcome He's going to tell us what it is and i'll explain and i'm just going one verse by verse then we will You know, we'll put it all together Verse 21 because creation itself Also will be delivered So at that future time creation will be itself will be delivered from The bondage of corruption Into the glorious liberty of the children of god. So There's coming a time Then even creation is going to be Released from what the bondage of corruption That means at the present moment When he said in the preceding verse that creation was given to Was subjected to futility. What was he referring to this? That is creation right now is under the bondage Of corruption and i'll explain this It's subject to bondage under the bondage of corruption but creation this coming a time and creation itself will be delivered from this And be brought into the glorious liberty of the children of god that means that the glorious Liberty the great glory the children of god are going to experience creation also be brought into that right I will I will explain. I'm just you know going mr. Buster We're sorry to you Well, we know that the whole creation right now creation Is groaning and laboring? With birth pangs till now. It's almost like creation Is going through such pain But this pain he compares to that of a woman in labor. That means It's very intense It's also going to give birth to something Something's going to come forth. It's a creation is right now groaning and lay, you know, it's an intense pain but it's it's a pain that is expecting something wonderful to happen And not only that But we also so this is not just creation groaning but even us We people who have the first fruits of the spirits. We're talking about believers That we believers who are the first fruits of the spirit that means holy spirits living in us We also groan within ourselves. So we also are feeling the same You know, there is the suffering of this present time. So there is this groaning but Be verse 23 we are We are also looking forward for the adoption And what is this he talking about the redemption of our body? So this glorious liberty of the children of god, which he was talking about is really the time when our The redemption of our body our physical body will also be completely fully redeemed in the sense that mortal will put on immortality And we will no more be subject to physical death Okay, so what's what is paul telling us in this passage? So when adam sins Not only did adam come in subjection to the devil for satan But all I mean this earth Because god had put adam in charge of this earth This earth came in subjection to sin and satan and death Sin satan and death because through one man Sin came into the world and death through sin What is death death is decay. It's corruption So this entire all of creation at that time In the fall all of creation was subject To corruption it came in bondage like he says here in verse 21 It came in bondage or It came In subjection to Corruption It's the working of death. It's a decay. It's a decline. It's a downward movement It's a deviation from original design Away from it and it's a decline So for example god never intended adam and eve to die physically Now they were going to live in that body he had made for them Forever he never intended for them to die, but the moment they sinned What happened death came into this world and All of creation was subject to The bondage of corruption all of creation everything And So if you look at adam and eve Their bodies were originally designed to live forever. They were not going to die But now that sin came into the world and death Through sin their bodies began to decline and so eventually After several hundred years they died And all the people who were born thereafter Eventually died Now that was not god's original design, but because of sin Every created thing on this earth Was subject to corruption. That means it began to deviate From god's original design From the perfection of god's perfect state that is supposed to be in began to deviate So that is why We find so many things that are imperfect that it's not the way god originally designed it So Why example and and this helps us understand, you know Why For instance take for instance Why are children born with birth defects? now of course medically The doctors will tell us. Okay. This is what happened Maybe the gene that was supposed to mark for certain thing that happened out of certain organ or system in the body didn't Something went wrong and therefore There was a problem but there's from a spiritual standpoint now the doctors will explain to us from a medical standpoint, which is fine But from a spiritual standpoint, what has happened? Did god create or did god design defective genes or genetic code? No Everything was perfect but in the fall All of creation was subject came into the bondage of corruption came into subjection to Corruption, which is a deviation From god's original design And so things started becoming You know corrupt. They're not being they're not they no longer in the perfect standard Decay So our bodies Originally designed to live continuously But now our bodies are mortal They die And so we can explain one aspect that For i'm going back to the same thing that hey when some when the child is born With defects, but you know, whatever Abnormalities physical or so on We cannot blame god We can't say god made the child like that no There's something else at work all of creation Is subject to the bondage of corruption and It says that in verse 20 god Subjected it. He let it go Not willingly Means this is not what god wanted. This was not what god intended But he let it go It says but because of him that is god Who subjected it in hope that means god said, okay, i'm letting it go now because this is what is the outcome of man's choice But there is hope What is the hope that all of creation And all of us who received the first fruit of the spirit Will experience the glorious liberty of the children of god the will experience the The redemption of our body that means everything All of creation including us For we who have you know received the first fruit of the spirit we will be Redeemed fully redeemed so we are enjoying part of our redemption now But there's still something we're looking forward to We even our bodies will be redeemed everything will be redeemed so Looking at verse 18 paul says, you know The sufferings of this present time the sufferings of this present time So now we expand our understanding of the sufferings of this present time. What is it? It's Sufferings that have come into this world Because of the bondage of corruption That all of creation is you know is in bondage this And they are in subject in subjection to this And this brings in a lot of suffering of course It's not easy You know People die premature we say prematurely meaning people die at all kinds of wages That was not god's original design You know whether it's children or You know a young person or whatever, you know, they die suddenly hey They haven't even lived out 50 years or 60 or 70 years that This is not god's design Now all kinds of things happening the sufferings of this present time Why is it? because all of creation Is subject to the bondage of corruption But god gave it up willingly Because of hope that you know because he knows that there's coming this day and time When all of creation will be brought into this glorious liberty It will be brought into this place of full redemption that he will redeem all things to himself Right we can cross reference Collosions chapter 1 uh, adan I will I will answer your question. Right. We just Look at a few cross references to this we go with me. Please We can go to collosions And chapter 1 right Yeah, right and We can look at verse 20 Collosions 1 verse 20 And through him to reconcile to himself all things Whether things on earth or things in heaven by making peace through his blood shed on the cross Thank you. So What is god working towards that is through christ He's going to reconcile all Things to himself and it's going to bring it all back so romans 8 says he Let it go Do not willingly Let it go That becomes subjective futility. Let it be subject to this bondage of corruption He did it in hope What is that? It says here in verse 20 That through christ and through that means what jesus did on the cross proceeding versus He will reconcile everything back to himself It's gonna bring it back But the things in heaven things on earth or things in heaven they will be reconciled back to god and Verse Ephesians 1 and verse 14 again another cross reference to this Ephesians 1 verse 14 Somebody could read that please Ephesians 1 14 somebody please Who is a deposit? Sorry sadaq go ahead. Yeah Who is the deposit? Guarantee or in herdins until the redemption of those who are god's position to praise of his glory Thank you so The holy spirit has been given As a deposit as a guarantee Until that means there is something still more to come until The redemption of the purchased possession so There's coming a time in there when the you know, you and I are the other purchase possession of god But we are going to be fully redeemed that there's this body and all everything will be fully redeemed So now we are walking in part in part of our redemption and we will physically die and all of that being No, but there is just there is coming this redemption of our body and of the purchase possession right so this passage Helps us understand To some degree The sufferings i'm going back to roman's 8 sorry roman's 8 18 to 23 Some degree though. There's the sufferings of this present time You know a lot of things happen and wonder why well because all of creation is subject to the bondage of corruption Why and then we look at natural calamities, right? You know tsunamis earthquakes volcanoes destroying lives um the Cyclones and tornadoes that are so destructive. I mean did god Create like a world like this that is destructive did god create earthquakes and all all these things too in his original design now Genesis chapter one and two tells us god. So everything was good Was i'm very happy. He said it was good not destructive not things that would cause pain so even creation the visa right here that creation first went to creation so every creature thing life and non-life material things non-material things everything was subject to this bondage of corruption so why are they all these catastrophic natural events and is god doing it is god causing the tornado and sometimes you know uh It's very sad, but suppose, you know, there's a big cyclones happening somewhere or Volcano that destroys lives or earthquake that destroys as people say that's a judgment of god well We have to be careful before we say something like that because We do read in scripture that God did use natural elements at times to bring judgment. I'm not ruling that out but Not everything is an act of god's judgment because All of creation has been subject to the bondage of corruption and some of the things that happen I'm not god using the natural element to cause judgment, but it is the deviation from god's best that's a sticking place in the natural elements Whether it's the wind or the waves or the earth Because they've gone away from The they're they're it's deviating from god's original design so It helps us understand some of these things that in creation all of creation because of sin death came in and that didn't affect just man the human race It affected all of creation So that everything Is actually in a state That is away from god's original design It's not in a state of not in the state of perfection the way god originally created it But and so that's why all the suffering is happening But the hope that we have And something Paul says even you know creation is waiting for It's just glorious day when There will be the redemption of our body. There will be the glorious liberty the children of god when we will be brought into the fullness of redemption and god will reconcile all things to himself so We are looking forward to it all of creation's looking forward to it right so To answer some questions there. Okay. Aaron's question Yeah, so Aaron your question is you know Children people are not born normal the special child that they go to heaven And The bible doesn't give us i mean there is no chapter in verse by which we can answer this question The what we can say is that because they don't have the ability to Understand right and wrong and understand Hey, you know To hear the gospel and so on so they don't have that So I think it would be safe to say that children special Children and so on people are not born normal don't have the capacity It's safe to say that they would go to heaven Uh, I I cannot mean I can't give you a chapter in verse. So I I You know, I'm not saying this is truth I'm just saying This is what would be safe to say but We will let god this and we will find out we'll find out God is the final judge and he will decide Okay So with this in mind I also want us to Be careful when we Are working with people that we don't Attribute something to god You know So, you know example If a baby dies We shouldn't say god took the child or god, you know god Wanted the child to die young Remember it says here Not willingly That's Romans 820 I mean this is not God's will Not willingly this wasn't what he wanted. This was not his design So We shouldn't say oh god wanted the child. No, no keep in mind That's there's many things that are happening here. That is not the will of god That is the outcome or the results Of the creation being subject to the bondage of corruption The death that came in because of sin and the past upon everything So we shouldn't blame god for those things Now i'm not saying you know go and give a theological response answer to somebody who's going through that Suffering no just keep quiet don't go on you know that okay, this is not god and It's not god and it's not God causing it But you know at that moment somebody's going to grieve and think that's another time to bring up theology and try to Give fans the answer. So just keep quiet But This what i'm trying to stress is you know, this is Romans 8 1823 explains a lot of the sufferings that we're going through this time Yeah, so i don't I see a Question here. So you want just to clarify See the My my response is that there is no chapter in verse By which we can you know say You know Clearly definitely right I would point to you know romans chapter 7 and verse 8 Romans chapter 7 verse 9 and also would point to matthew chapter 18 Where Jesus talked about children Right and so we're saying that while there's no Statement direct statement from the scriptures saying that every child Who dies will go to heaven. There's no direct statement. We are saying that We think I can just say I think that children who die Below the age of accountability that is roman 7 verse 9 before they came to understand the commandment Or matthew 18 the angel there's an angel the child the angel is in the presence standing before god I think it's matthew 1810 So That's what i'm saying. We think that children will go to heaven, right? There's no direct scripture But based on these inferences right So to state it clearly Based on our understanding and not based on chapter in verse but based on our understanding We think that children And those who are not able to understand the gospel that is you know, if they There's like you said special children When they die, they'll go to heaven But You know what i'm saying is We will leave let god handle it Uh based on understanding. We're saying they'll go to heaven, but god will judge make the final decisions. So leave it there Okay, all right Okay, any questions here? I know I spent a little extra time here in romans 8 18 or 23 because Uh, it's something you don't see elsewhere in In in in scripture So I thought we'll you know explain it and and what are the ramifications? What are the implications of What is being presented to us here any questions and things you want to discuss before we move on move forward all right, so let's um, um, just read verses 24 on to 28 24 to 28, please somebody could read that Romans 8 24 to 28, please We were saved in the hope But hope that is seen in is not hoped for why does one still hope for what he sees But if we hope for what we do not see we eagerly wait for pick with perseverance Likewise, the spirit also helps in our weakness for we do not know what we should pray for As we are as we are but the spirit himself makes intercession for us With warnings, which cannot be uttered now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the spirit is because he makes Intercession for the sense according to the will of God And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God to those who are The called according to his purpose Thank you so The context the background is the sufferings of this present time caused partly because of creation being subject to the bondage of corruption now In addition to this The other things that cause suffering of course is the work of the enemy satan is at work The man is also doing a lot of evil wicked things. So All this put together is causing a lot of suffering that's going on on the earth Right, so there are people are wicked to do wicked things and think of wicked schemes Kill and destroy people do that and then there satan and demonic spirits also at work. All right, so all these things are causing suffering but then We have this hope we are waiting for the redemption of our body and so verse 24 and 25 paul says, you know It's something we can't see yet right because If you can see it, then you don't have to hope for it So we can't see it. So that's why we have hope hope means It's out there in the future We know we're going to have it, but it's still in the future The only thing we can do like he says in verse 25 is We wait for it with perseverance That means we have patient endurance And we wait for it. It's out there in the future. We hope for it And interestingly at this time He transitions into prayer So he says Likewise The spirit helps us in our weaknesses So There's the weakness he's talking about What weakness is he talking about in the overall context? The weakness is the weakness of our flesh Because that is the overarching theme starting from romans chapter six and chapter seven and chapter eight The overarching theme theme is hey, there is the weakness of our flesh, which we we cannot overcome on our own It's the work of the holy spirit It's going to help us So it's almost like between 18 to 25 Paul has taken a little detour to talk about To give us a little understanding of the sufferings of this present time That is caused by this bondage of corruption But giving us hope that there is this glorious liberty of the children of god And then he's coming back to this theme of the weakness that we are contending against so We have to put it in the context of all that he's been talking about which is the weakness of our flesh So this is likewise the whole spirit helps us in our weaknesses So at the highest level the overarching theme of what Paul has been speaking to us. It's the weakness of our flesh But in the immediate preceding context, which he just mentioned It is the sufferings of this present time that is there are times and we're going through the sufferings Of this this journey through life and we feel weak And we don't know what to pray for So god, what do I pray for? So whether it's the weakness of our flesh or whether it's Journey through the sufferings of this present time, which Paul just mentioned saying we have to Pursue we had through we have to have patient endurance to go through There are times when we say god, I don't know what to pray for So the holy spirit The same spirit that he's introduced us to you know from verse one the same spirit Who helps us he helps us in our weaknesses Because we don't know what to pray for at times And the holy spirit makes intercession For us this is in verse 26. I'm looking at verse 26 We don't know what to pray for But this is where the holy holy spirit comes in and he Himself makes intercession with groanings Which cannot be uttered so The holy spirit is dwelling in us and what he does he does with us Or through us And these are this is prayer intercession, of course That is expressed through groanings which cannot be uttered That means there is An expression That's coming from the holy spirit It is actually intercession But it is coming in the form of groanings That cannot be expressed through our speech Cannot be uttered But obviously it's groanings So it has somebody's got to express it and somebody's got to speak it out And when you look at verse 27 It says he who searches the hearts So now it's coming back to the individual God looks into the hearts So where are these groanings being coming being released from? The heart of the believer So this prayer this intercession That helps us in our weaknesses Comes from the holy spirit But it's released through our hearts or our spirits And these are groanings which cannot be expressed through our own words But God looks into the heart And it says verse 27 he knows what the mind of the spirit is I mean he knows what the holy spirit is saying Because that intercession Is intercession for the saints So who's having weakness? Not the holy spirit. It's the saint Who's helping in prayer and and the saint doesn't know what to pray for who's helping the holy spirit How is he helping By making intercession But who's doing the intercession the believe the believer with the help of the holy spirit Where is intercession coming out from the heart of the believer? Who's looking who's listening to it god? He looks into the heart of the believer. He knows what the holy spirit is saying what is the mind of the spirit And this intercession Verse 27 is according to The will of god that means But the believer doesn't know what to pray for the holy spirit is helping him pray According to the will of god It's coming out as groanings meaning it's it's prayer that's coming from the holy spirit It's being expressed um, you know In in in articulate speech, it's not something the believer thinks up It's a groaning that could be expressed in so many ways whether it's uh Expressed in tongues or whether it's expressed through crying and weeping or whatever fashion The holy spirit is releasing it Through the life of the believer It is some it results in prayer That is according to the will of god and it results in helping the saint is helping the believer in Our weaknesses so Romans 8 26 27 is a key verse uh That talks about overcoming weakness All right, we'll just come back. We'll take a break. I know it's time So we'll take a break. Let's come back spend a few more minutes on 26 20 romans 8 26 27 And then we will move forward Okay, uh, all right. Let's take a quick break We'll be back I'm intensely moving a little slow here because this is a very very you know intense chapter, but and we really need to you know get all the juice out so We'll pick up speed. Okay. Thank you. God bless