What He Will Do with Heaven and Earth, Part 3

Introduction and Review of Christ's Return and Creation's Future

0:01 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, September 9th, 2001, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now let us turn together to the 8th chapter of the Letter of Paul to the Church at Rome, the Book of Romans, Chapter 8.

0:29 While it is difficult to break in without any comments about the general context, I'm going to do that in our reading this morning, picking up the reading at verse 17, reading then through verse 25, Romans 8 at verse 17. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified with him. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present...

1:07 ...present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to usward.

1:14 For the earnest expectation of the creation waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to vanity or futility, not of its own will, but by reason of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also shall...

1:38 ...shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.

1:46 For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now. And not only so, but ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for our adoption, that is, the redemption of our body. For in hope were we saved, but hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for that which he sees?

2:20 But if we hope for that which we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. Now let us again seek the face of God in prayer, asking God's help upon our consideration of his Holy Word. Let us pray. Our Father, times without number, in our finite reckoning, we have bowed before you in this place, pleading with you that when the Scriptures were opened before our eyes and opened in this pulpit,

3:01 that there would be someone present beyond those in the pew and the one in the pulpit. We have asked that you would send your Holy Spirit, in power and in grace, that he may be present to open our natively dark and stumbling efforts to understand your mind, that he would be present as the spirit of utterance to the one who speaks, that the speech and the preaching would not be in enticing words of men's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,

3:40 that our faith should not rest in the wisdom of men but in your almighty power lord we come again asking the same this morning believing that your promise to us to give the spirit to those who ask is as fresh as though it were spoken but 30 seconds ago and we lay hold of that promise in christ and we trust you to fulfill it in this place this morning to the praise of your name

4:11 and to the good of our souls we plead amen as most of you know i was away from you last lord's day in ottawa canada for five days of ministry and when i got on the plane at the ottawa airport on wednesday morning to return home they made available a free copy of the leading ottawa newspaper and since i'd been totally out of touch

4:51 with the outside world for five days i thought it would do me no harm to have a look at the headlines and see what's been going on in the world beyond that methodist campgrounds that the presbyterians were using for the conference at which i ministered and one of the leading articles immediately grabbed my attention you the caption in large letters in that article is as follows galaxies on course for collision and now i read the text no comments a tom spears of whom i know nothing writes

5:34 earth and all our neighborhood the milky way galaxy home to a few hundred billion suns are going on a long trip with a with nothing at the n but trouble our whole spiral baylor says no our

6:15 Worlds will collide. The enormous gravity of millions of stars pulling at each other as they whirl around a massive center will rip whole arms off our galaxy, arms many light years long and containing millions of stars. And this is the future of our universe.

6:43 End quote. This is where worlds will collide.

6:55 There is nothing at the end but trouble. Now I ask you, dear people of God, is this the future of our universe?

7:07 I hope you can answer with a resounding no. In no way is this to be the terminus of our universe as we know it. If we know our Bibles in an even cursory way, we are armed with the stuff to say this is man's nonsense with respect to the future of the universe. We've been examining for several months the biblical doctrine of the return of our Lord Jesus Christ, and we've come to a point in those studies where we are addressing this very issue.

7:52 What is the future? The future of this created physical universe as we now know it. But in order to bring visitors and those who have not been with us in the previous 17 messages, let me take about seven minutes of condensed, distilled review. Forgive me if I stick very close to my written text.

8:15 The longer a series gets, the more skill and effort it takes to write brief reviews. And with my...

The Radical Reformation of Creation: A Biblical Framework

8:23 mind and heart full of the 18 hours of exposition, the brief review can easily expand into something other than a brief review and cheat us in covering the new territory that I want to cover this morning. We began this series by looking at six New Testament texts which unmistakably demonstrate that an eager expectation and love for the return of Christ was a vital part of normal New Testament curriculum. The first is the Christian experience. A synonym for a Christian, according to Paul in 2 Timothy 4.8,

9:00 is those who love the appearing of our Lord Jesus. We then address the question, why do true believers in a healthy spiritual state eagerly await and long for and love the appearing of Christ? And we looked at four biblical answers to that question. Then we moved on to the second question, which is, why do true believers in a healthy spiritual state eagerly await and long for and love the appearing of Christ?

9:25 And we moved on to take up those issues that are foundational to a biblically balanced understanding of the biblical teaching concerning the return of our Lord Jesus Christ in power and glory at the end of the age. That return, which is prophesied by the two men standing by the eleven apostles as the Lord ascends into heaven, and those two men, obviously, the angels say, this same Jesus who is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven. And it is essential for us as believers,

10:09 with all of the nonsense of the end times books and movies and speculation and the book written 1994 question mark and efforts to pinpoint the precise time of the Lord's coming, it is vital that we be grounded in those things that are foundational to this biblical teaching. And so we saw from the scriptures as to the event itself, it is certain. Secondly, as to its place in the history of redemption, it is central and it is climactic. Thirdly, as to the time of the return of Christ,

10:52 we saw that for us it is always imminent, it is always at hand, but the time is indefinite and it is unknowable. In such an hour as you think not the Son of Man comes, no man knows the time of the coming, no, not even the Son nor the angels. And then fourthly, as to the events that will occur at the return of Christ, they are clearly revealed and they are manifold. And I have suggested that when we come to the scriptures with this question,

11:30 Lord, what have you clearly revealed as to the events that will occur at the coming of the Lord Jesus, we must not expect to find in any one passage or any combination of passages a neatly packaged checklist laid out in strict sequential order this will happen, then this, then this, then that, then the other, but rather think of all that scripture says as occurring at the return of Christ as a cluster of events. Think of the main stem of the grapevine and the lesser stems on which hang clusters. Christ's coming is the main stem

12:14 and there are various events that cluster around his coming. Or the illustration, to which I've given more prominence, that of a pie. The pie, the circle of the pie is everything scripture says that will occur at the return of Christ. And we ought to think of those things in terms of their major slices.

12:37 And we've sliced the pie into four major segments. The things that are clearly revealed that Christ will do to those who are in Christ, both dead and alive, at his coming. Secondly, what Christ will do at his coming to those who are not in Christ, who are not savingly united to Christ, both dead and living at his return. What will he do with them?

13:05 And then we went to the scriptures to see that at the return of Christ he's going to do something with the devil and his angels. And now the fourth slice in the pie is the question, at the return of Christ, what will happen to this physical creation? To the cosmos as we now know it. And it is this fourth slice of the pie, this fourth major category of events, clearly revealed as certain to occur at the return of Christ that is the present focus of our study in the scriptures.

13:44 When I initially took up this fourth slice, of the pie, this aspect of concern two Lord's days ago, I began with the question, at the return of Christ, what will happen to the physical creation? And I answered, at the return of Christ, the present physical creation will undergo a radical reformation by the purifying and restorative action of Christ, thereby making it, the physical creation, the heavens and the earth as they now are, making it a fit dwelling for the glorified saints in Christ.

14:27 And as I began to show the biblical basis for this answer, I stated that once again we were faced with the importance of placing all of our thinking concerning all matters into the grid of the biblical framework of creation, fall and redemption. Every aspect of reality as we encounter it must be viewed in the light of what the Bible says about creation, the horrible disruption that occurred in the fall of our first parents, and that which God graciously purposed us to do

15:09 in restorative grace that we call redemption. And we went to the biblical account of the original creation, and we saw that when God was done speaking and framing a universe, He stands back, as it were, and the Scripture says He beheld all that He made, and it was very good. There was nothing in the physical creation that was threatening, nothing that was unyielding, nothing that would not gladly respond to Adam's efforts, joined to Eve to subdue the earth, to replenish the earth,

15:52 to multiply, to discover and articulate all of the various sciences and disciplines essential to harnessing all the innate energy and potential for growth and life, and God sees it all and says, it is very good. But then in Genesis 3 we read the account of man's sin against God, and as a result of that sin, God says to man, cursed is the ground on the count of you, and disruptive forces are now let loose in the physical order,

16:33 disruptive forces that affect the totality of life in our present framework of existence. And then we saw in just a brief way, and then began to flower it out, that there will be a radical renovation of this sin-cursed physical order at the return of Christ. It will be a redemptive and a re-creative work of grace and of power. Then I suggested that when you turn to the Bible with the question, where is this clearly taught?

17:10 There are many passages in the Old and the New Testament where this renovative, restorative work of God in a sin-cursed physical order is taught, but that there are two passages when we survey the landscape of Scripture that stand out like the World Trade Center's two towers stand out, the twin towers on the southern tip of the island of Manhattan. And if we master those two passages, we will have a grasp upon the fundamental teaching of the Word of God in answer to the question, what will happen to this physical universe?

17:51 How do we know that Tom Spears is dead wrong? How do we know that this will not be the ultimate end of our universe? Well, we know it because of Scripture, and in particular, the twin tower passages, 2 Peter 3, verses 7 to 13, and Romans 8, 19 through 22. Last Lord's Day, or two Lord's Days ago when I was with you, I sought to open up the 2 Peter passage, underscoring at the outset that you have in that brief passage

18:31 four references to the earth and five references to the heavens, so that the focus of that passage, as he says, the day of the Lord will come. The focus of that passage in connection with the second coming is what Jesus is going to do to the existing heavens and earth. And the paradigm is what God did when he came in judgment and mercy at the time of the flood. There was an overflowing of the entire world in that act of God by which Noah and his family float to safety,

19:14 to physical and spiritual salvation by the grace of God, and the rest of the world is judged. And in a similar way, there will be a cataclysmic disruption at the return of Christ. The language of Peter is graphic and sweeping, flaming fire, elements dissolving in fervent heat. And what's the end of it all?

19:38 There are issues forth from the work that Christ will do at his second coming on new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness has its pervasive and its eternal home. Not new something out of nothing, but the old renovated and renewed by the purifying and renovating work of the returning Christ. Well, so much for the review. Now we come to the Romans 8 passage this morning.

Romans 8:19-22: Creation's Focus and Context within Romans 8

20:12 We move to the second of the twin towers. And please have your Bibles open then to that passage. Let me note at the very outset as we ease our way into an exposition of these verses that as the second Peter 3 passage contains the four references to the earth and five references to the heaven and to the heavens, this passage has four occurrences of the word creation. The Greek word ktisis, transliterated K-T-I-S-I-S.

20:51 If you transliterate into English with no vowel between the K and the T, so it's hard to say ktisis. So you practice on that, a K and a T together. Ktisis. And you'll note as we look at the passage, and I'd ask you to let your eyes drop down to it, we read verse 19, for the earnest expectation of the creation waits for the revealing of the sons of God.

21:16 Verse 20, for the creation was subject to vanity. Verse 21, that the creation itself shall be delivered. Verse 22, for we know that the whole creation, whatever Paul is talking about, one thing is clear. He's telling us something about creation.

21:37 The ktisis, the created order, that which has been created. And there is this focus of attention in this section of Romans 8 upon the creation. Not the creature, but the creation. That which God has brought into being by his creative word and power.

21:59 Now, I don't know how it strikes you, but if you know anything about Romans 8, the initial response is one of surprise. Because Christians, acquainted with the content of their Bibles, universally acknowledge that Romans chapter 8 is one of, if not the most rich goldmine of biblical truth concerning the greatness, the grandeur, the certainty, the non-viable, non...

22:30 What word do I want? I'm fishing for. But it's the indefectible salvation. Romans 8 begins with the well-known words.

22:40 There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. It closes with that triumphant confession of confidence that neither death, nor life, nor height, nor depth, angels, princes, but nothing shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. The chapter begins with no condemnation. It ends with the affirming of no separation.

23:09 And in between, there is this marvelous opening up of the work of the Spirit in conjunction with this salvation, delivering us from the realm of living after the flesh and placing us into the realm of the new creation, living after the Spirit. And the help of the Spirit in the mortification of sin, in bearing witness with our spirits, we are the children of God. In helping us in our felt inadequacy in prayer, we know not how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit helps us in this infirmity. In the midst of this marvelous chapter, no condemnation, no separation,

23:52 the presence and enablement of the Holy Spirit in the realm of the ethical and the moral and the internal Christian experience, and even goes further and says, these very bodies that are now bodies of our humiliation, these bodies shall be quickened by that selfsame Spirit. It's the Spirit of Him who raised up Christ from the dead dwell in you. Verse 11, He that raised Christ from the dead shall give life to your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwells in you. Marvelous teaching.

24:26 And then the wonderful precious verses that this great salvation was no afterthought in the mind of God as to its substance or its objects. We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Why? For whom He did foreknow, those upon whom He set His sovereign love in eternity, He predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.

24:54 Moreover, whom He did predestinate, then He also called, and without exception all whom He called, then He also glorified. What shall we say then to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? Dear brothers and sisters, that chapter that sends goosebumps up and down the mind, up and down the spine and arms of a reflective reader who's reading it in faith and hope feels something of the chill of a bucket of cold water when all of a sudden the apostle starts talking about creation, creation, creation, creation.

25:31 Why does he do this? For the simple reason that the redemption purchased by Christ according to Colossians 1.20 not only focuses upon the likes of you and me, creatures fallen in Adam, redeemed in Christ, but Colossians 1.20 speaks of a reconciling work of Christ that takes in the things, listen to the language of Colossians 1.20,

26:02 Colossians 1.20 and through him that is through Christ to reconcile all things unto himself having made peace through the blood of his cross through him I say whether things upon the earth or things in the heavens earth, heavens, see the conjunction and you being in time past alienated in enemies now has he reconciled. Paul makes a distinction Between things in heaven and earth that are reconciled and human beings, you who are reconciled.

26:38 And in a very real sense, Romans 8 verses 19 to 22 are Paul's own commentary on Colossians 1 and verse 20. What does it mean? Christ has reconciled all things to himself in heaven and in earth. Yes, those who teach a heretical doctrine of the universal salvation of all men eventually, this is the text they try to use.

27:04 So they make men and women things to get all things reconciled. It's a travesty upon any honest handling of the word of God. But our danger is to focus upon verse 22, I'm sorry, verse 21. Yes, in and through Christ, we who were enemies are reconciled.

27:25 But what else? About the other purpose of his reconciling work. He died that he might reconcile all things to himself. Things in earth and things in heaven.

27:38 And we know that is not fallen angels. We saw that from our study of how Christ will deal with the devil and his angels at his second coming. I suggest this is Paul in the most distilled Pauline language squeezing what he writes in Romans 8 verses. 19 to 22 into this one statement in Colossians chapter 2.

The Logical Flow of Romans 8: Suffering, Glory, and Creation's Hope

28:02 All right, I hope I've whet your appetite to get into this text and to see precisely what it teaches. Now as we look more closely at Romans 8, 19 to 22, let me say just a word about the relationship of this segment to the flow of thought leading into and flowing out of these verses. And here I want to give you some practical pastoral counsel. Do not use as your standard study Bible for your devotions, for family worship, a Bible that throws out words that God has put into his word that are significant.

28:40 Some of the modern translations in an effort to take Paul's long sentences hung together by the little logical connective, it's G-A-R, agar in the Greek. They leave it totally untranslated and your eye picks up the text and you think that, where there's a full stop and no for or no therefore, that there's no logical connection. Romans 8 is full of guards. The NIV leaves out most of them.

29:07 I use the NIV. I consult it to see if there's a rendering of a given passage. I quote it, but don't use it as your standard Bible. In an effort to put it in modern news day format with shorter sentences, they leave out the guards.

29:23 And so it's hard to just dip down in because the thought, before, flows into and then thoughts flow out. But let's take just a moment to try to grasp the thought that flows in to our passage and that which flows out of it. Paul has spoken of our great privilege as children of God, heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ. But then at the end of verse 17, he says, If so be that we suffer with him, that we may be glorified with him.

29:53 What he is saying is this. Yes, we are heirs of God. Joint heirs with Christ. But how did Christ come into his inheritance?

30:02 Through, through the crucible of suffering. And as Christ passes through suffering to glory, remember in Peter, the Spirit speaking in the prophets testified the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. He says all the recipients of that salvation will come to the full possession of it in the same framework. It will be through suffering.

30:27 Suffering that they come to glory, no suffering, no glory. Why? Because there's no union with the suffering glorified Christ. If you're united to Christ, you'll suffer with him and bless God.

30:41 You'll be glorified together with him. Now, Paul says in verse 18, what do we do then as we seek to put on the scale present sufferings, which is a given for true Christians, we're going to put present sufferings on. One side of the scale and the glory that awaits the believing child of God, united to Christ in the fellowship now of his sufferings marked for glory. Will we take everything that pertains to glory and put it on this side of the scale?

31:14 Paul says, dismantle the scale. It's not even worthy to compare the two. Don't even put them on the same scale, for I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with what the glory to be revealed to us work. There is a glory that is going to be revealed to us at the coming of the Lord Jesus when we behold him and we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is and the glory that emanates from him will envelop his own so that Paul can say in Colossians three, when Christ, who is our life, shall be manifested, you shall be manifested with him in glory.

31:57 Glory. Glory. Glory. He comes in glory.

32:00 He calls us to himself and gives us our resurrected bodies, perfects our spirits if we're alive at his coming along with the body and in the context of pervasive glory, Christ and his people shall be manifested for who and what they are. And Paul says, when I think about that, what's a few more nights in the jail? What are a few more whacks on my back? What are a few more stones pummeling on my head?

32:27 Gather them all up. They're unworthy to be put on the same scale. That's what he says in verse 19. And what weighs so heavily on this side is the glory that shall be revealed.

32:40 Now, when he speaks of the glory to be revealed to him and his fellow believers, he cannot think of this present created order and knowing how incongruous it would be for glorified saints in the presence of God. The presence of a glorified Christ to dwell in this present created order. Remember, that was very good at the beginning, but now labors under a curse. He goes on to say, for there's one of those guards for the earnest expectation of the very creation waits for the revealing of the sons of God.

33:20 He said, when I think of the revealing of the sons of God and compare my sufferings, don't put them on the same scale. And furthermore, thinking of the glory to be revealed, this very world anticipates it and waits for the manifestation of the sons of God, which happens at the return of Christ. Because at the return of Christ, God's going to do something very glorious to the physical creation. And then having dealt with that, and we're going to open up the verses, then it flows out into a parallel.

33:53 And he says there, surely as God subjected the creation. In hope, that is in a context of promised blessing that would release the world from its curse. So likewise, he says, we have that prospect with respect to our bodies. And then we have these wonderful verses with respect to, though we grow now, we eagerly wait for the full possession of our adoptive status, namely resurrection body.

Question 1: What Does Creation Do at the Present Time?

34:24 So that's the thought flowing in. Flowing out of the passage. Now, in the time that remains, I want us to focus on these verses, asking of the text for questions. And there's no way, dear brothers and sisters, that I can give the applications that are bursting to be given.

34:41 That's going to have to be a separate message. I can only, in the time allotted, expound. Everything in me wants to lay on some of the applications, but I'm not going to do it. So please, gird up the loins of your mind.

34:54 As together, we seek God. Seek to grasp the mind of the Spirit in this passage. We're going to ask four questions of the text. First one.

35:04 Since the creation is given animation, the text is described, I'm sorry, the creation is described in our text as something that feels, that groans, that anticipates. There is this personification, given personality to the inanimate created order. So we're going to ask creation four questions. Question number one.

35:30 What does creation do at the present time? Creation. What do you do at the present time? Verse 19 says creation does two things.

35:42 Number one. For the earnest expectation of the creation. Earnest expectation are two lengthy English words attempting to translate one Greek noun. The creation has something to do with the creation.

35:59 Something described as an earnest expectation. And this compound word, I think, can best be illustrated. It means to the stretching out of the neck. You're so eager to see something you long to see and expect, your neck is stretched out.

36:17 I immediately thought of the International Arrivals Building at Newark and at Kennedy. And when you stand there with people who expect loved ones, perhaps they haven't seen for some time, or they've been overseas, a trip to Europe, whatever it is. It's interesting to watch people wading along the roped off areas. They're on their tiptoes.

36:39 And if someone taller is in front of them, their head is going this way, going this way. And you see them stretching it out as far as they can, eagerly looking for that loved one. And the moment they're registered on the retina, that's him. Ah, there he is.

36:54 And they go through all kinds of gyrations. The most reserved people forget themselves. Why? They're waiting in neck stretched out expectation.

37:03 That's what Paul says this creation is doing. This creation has an earnest expectation. It has a looking for with the stretched out neck posture. Now you didn't know that, did you?

37:20 When you drove by the homes with their gardens and their flowers, and when you cut your lawn, did you know you were in the presence of that? Which has its neck stretched out in expectation. The second thing that this creation is doing at the present, and this is a verb, is what is described here, waiting for the revealing of the sons of God. It has its neck stretched out in eager anticipation.

37:52 And in that posture, it is waiting. Another compound verb in the original. The same one. The same one used in several of the texts that we looked at to demonstrate that eager anticipation for the return of Christ was normal Christian experience.

38:13 1 Corinthians 1.7, Philippians 3.20, Hebrews 9.28, all had this verb.

38:20 So what Paul is saying is, what the believer does as a rational conscious image bearer of God in eagerly anticipating and longing for the return of Christ, the creation does the same. For the earnest expectation of the creation waits for the revealing of the sons of God. And when are the sons of God revealed in their full glory? At the return of Christ.

38:54 So the earnest expectation of the creation is waiting for the return of Christ even when you forget and grow cold and distant and your soul is not healthy. For remember, I kept using the phrase, why does a true believer in a healthy spiritual state eagerly anticipate and long for the return of Christ even when you're in a state of spiritual dullness? The whole creation never grows dull. In its stretched out eager yearning for the manifestation of the sons of God at the return of the Lord Jesus.

Question 2: Why Does Creation Do This? (Reasons 1 & 2)

39:37 Question number one, answered by verse 19, what does creation do at the present time? Second question, why, why does creation do this? If you could tap creation on the shoulder, standing there with its neck stretched out, eagerly anticipating, re-anticipating the revelation of the sons of God and say, Mr. Creation, why are you doing that?

40:02 Why are you doing that? Why does creation do this? Verses 20 and 21 answer that question. That the, I'm sorry, for, you see another logical connective, for the creation, the created physical order, the present heavens and earth as we know them, was subjected to vanity or futility, not of its own will, but by reason of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.

40:37 Question two, why does the creation do this? Paul says, I'll give you three parts to the answer. Three reasons. Number one, reason number one for creation's tippy-toe expectation of the return of Christ because, number one, creation was subjected to vanity or futility.

41:00 Four, the creation was subjected, placed under that which is characterized by futility or vanity. Most of you, when you hear the word vanity, you think of the book of Ecclesiastes. Vanity, vanity, all is vanities, saith the preacher. Well, in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, this is the word they used again and again.

41:26 The creation was subjected to vanity or futility. What's he talking about? This is a summary of Genesis 3.17.

41:36 Cursed is the ground for man's sake. Thorns, thistles, sweat, there will be an unyieldingness in the physical order. There were no volcanoes and tornadoes and tidal waves and typhoons. None of that in the original creation.

41:58 These things have come as this creation has been made subject to futility, made subject to vanity. Listen to the language here of one of the commentators. The third four in his many verses, verse 20, picks up the logical sequence. We know that the creation waits for the revelation of the sons of God because it has been subjected to frustration, futility, to vanity.

42:33 Of itself and without any thought of divine purpose, the whole creation is futile. Paul is saying that sin, which affected the divine purpose in man, affected also the entire non-human creation. Lacking the purpose for which it was designed. Of itself, it has no purpose.

42:57 As one puts it, man is a part of nature and the whole nature of which he forms part was created good, has now been involved in frustration and futility by sin, but will ultimately be redeemed. Question two, why does the creation with stretched out neck nests wait for the revealing of the sons of God? Because it has been placed in a state of futility or vanity. Creation cannot break out into its full potential and glory.

43:36 Reason number two, because creation was subjected to vanity involuntarily. Look at the text. The creation was subjected to vanity not of its own will. Now, does creation have a will? Of course not.

43:52 He's personifying creation into a purpose with an understanding and feelings and will and ability to express itself. But he says this creation was subjected not of its own will, but now notice what he says, but by reason of him who subjected it in hope. Who subjected it to vanity and futility? Not the devil.

44:15 He doesn't subject it in hope. If he subjects anything, it's unto despair. Man had no power to subject it to vanity. Adam would have chosen otherwise.

44:27 He would have had the enjoyment of the pristine innocence of creation even though he, the crown of God's creation, had revolted against God. The one who subjected it in hope is God himself who said, curse is the ground for your sake. Why does creation do what it does? Because creation was subjected to vanity or futility.

44:50 Reason number two, because creation was subjected to vanity involuntarily. I have to pause and make this application. If we look at God's world and do not take into account this inspired definition of what this present world order is, we'll never understand it. Let me illustrate.

45:20 Imagine a king who's built a majestic palace, a king with tremendous resources at his disposal, physical, artistic, construction, and he wants to build a palace that wherever you look at it, it will reflect upon some aspect of the wealth, the wisdom, the power of that king. After some years in existence, an invading army comes to this man's, the citadel of his kingdom, and they lob large stones into the palace. And when they conquer the guard and enter the palace, they gut and burn and slash and mar. Much of that beauty

46:04 no longer fit as a place in which to live. So no one lives in it. And one day, a traveler comes upon this. And this traveler happens to be interested in the science of things.

46:20 And he is now going to analyze this wreck of a once beautiful palace. And so he goes in with his various instruments and scrapes off some of the charred wood, and he takes other materials and he subjects them to analysis, and he extrapolates from what he sees and what he can bring within the scope of his scientific knowledge and experimentation, he comes up with a theory of what that building is. Now let me ask you, can he begin to understand what he was handling if he doesn't know the history of its original condition and of its devastation

47:05 and destruction? Suppose he was committed a priori before even examining it, whatever I discover, this thing has always been the way it is, and I can understand it with that presupposition. No, you can't. You're a fool, man.

47:22 Take your geologist, your anthropologist, take your astronomers, take all of the physical sciences who come to God's world saying, whatever I discover, what is has always been. You're dead wrong, Dr. So-and-so. What you look at is not what has always been.

47:50 What is is such a vanity. Cosmic disruptions have come and God's original palace is marred and scarred and gutted. And you're a fool, you're a fool if you refuse to come to grips with that history in your scientific investigation. God help you students when brilliant, persuasive Dr. So-and-so

48:23 tries to undermine your Christian faith. He interprets man as though man is now, what he always has been, or is what he is now because of some chain of the operation of chance upon matter plus time. I don't care how brilliant he sounds, he's a fool. You ask this text the question, why does creation with stretched out neck anticipation wait for the manifestation of the sons of God?

Question 2: Why Does Creation Do This? (Reason 3: In Hope)

49:02 Because creation was subjected to vanity, creation was subjected to vanity involuntarily. And reason number three is because creation was made subject to vanity or futility in the context of hope. And if this doesn't make your heart sing, you've got a non-singing heart. Look at the text.

49:26 For the creation was subjected to vanity or futility, not of its own will, but by reason of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. When did God subject the created order to futility? Turn to Genesis 3. I want you to see it with your own eyeballs.

49:56 Genesis chapter 3 and verse 17. I've quoted it several times this morning, but now I want you to see it in connection to something that goes before. And unto Adam he, God, said because you have hearkened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree which I commanded you, saying you shall not eat of it, cursed is the ground for your sake. In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life, thorns and thistles that you'll bring forth in the sweat of your face.

50:25 Dust you are, and to dust you shall return. What a doleful picture. But Paul says this subjection of the created order to vanity was made in a context of hope. Where's the context of hope?

50:41 Go back to verse 15. And God said to the serpent, because you've done this, cursed are you above all cattle and above every beast of the field. Upon your belly you shall go, and dust shall you eat all the days of your life. Verse 14.

50:58 Now 15. I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. That's gospel hope.

51:13 God comes to the man and the woman who have disaligned themselves from their God and have aligned themselves with the devil. And God says, I'm going to bust up this alignment, this devilish alignment. I'm going to put enmity. I'm going to bring division between you and the woman, her seed, your seed.

51:35 And in the process, your head's going to fall. Your head's going to be crushed. Though I will permit you to bruise the heel of the seed of the woman. That's a gospel hope in which the seed of the woman shall not only reconcile his elect to himself, but reconcile all things, whether in heaven and upon the earth, all things to himself.

52:00 So when God made this subjecting of the created order, He did so in the context of gospel hope. That when God's redemptive purposes for the man and the woman are accomplished, this ground cursed for their sake, i.e. because of sin, when sin is removed, the curse is removed from the earth.

52:26 Cursed for man's sin and perfected humanity in the image of Christ shall dwell in unbroken communion with God and the Lamb. In the new heavens and in the new earth, because God subjected it not in despair and futility, but in hope, but in hope, but in hope. Listen to Professor Murray. This is simply a statement to emphasize the fact that it was wholly on account of the will of another that the subjection took place.

53:05 This can be none other than God, not Satan, nor man. And then commenting on the words subjected it in hope, in other words, hope conditioned the act of subjection and continues to condition the vanity and corruption imposed upon it. This fact anticipates and confirms the thought of deliverance and restoration so explicitly set forth in the following verses and it explains the next stretched out expectation of verse 90. I never thought I'd get so excited about what God's going to do to old weary Mother Earth.

53:46 Way back in the garden, he subjected it to vanity in the context of hope. And the great redeemer has come. And the next great event of God is his shout of triumph, the amen of the voice of the archangel, the trump of God. And at his return, not only will he deal with those who are in him, those who are not in him, the devil and his angels, but he's going to deal redemptively with the present created order.

Question 3: What is the Precise Content of Creation's Hope?

54:19 So we've looked at question number one. What does creation do at the present time? Why does creation do this? Three reasons.

54:30 Question number three. What's the precise content of this hope of creation? Is there any specific content of this hope, this eager and eager anticipation of the created order? And Paul says, yes, there is.

54:47 Look now again at our text. The creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself should be delivered, here's the negative, delivered from the bondage, the enslavement of corruption, here's the positive, into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. So when we ask the question, what's the precise content of this hope of creation's deliverance? It is a hope of deliverance from and deliverance into.

55:25 The negative, it is deliverance from slavery to corruption. The creation is now enslaved to that which leads to decay, to corruption, to death, to tragedy. It's enslaved to it and that slavery will continue as long as the one who created it wills that it shall be there. And this is where your poor woolly-headed environmentalists are off the wall.

55:51 They are determined that if everyone would do what they say, we could bring back Eden by ourselves. Why? They will not acknowledge this is God's creation. It is a creation subjected to vanity and futility by God himself and it will remain under that subjection till the God who imposed it removes it.

56:18 So the text says, and the creation shall, there's no uncertainty. How dare this arrogant man presume to say this is the destiny of our universe. When God in Christ has said the creation itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption. But that's not all.

56:44 In two, and look what the text says, in two, the liberty of the glory of the children of God. The liberty of the glory. Well, what is the glory of the children of God? The glory of the children of God in their completed redemptive state will be no more sin, soul, body, the whole humanity rid of every last vestige of sin and endowed, endowed with what Paul calls such faculties as to make us fit for a world in which the Holy Spirit will dominate everything in the lives of his people.

57:25 So when he says it is sown a natural body, raised a spiritual body, he doesn't mean a body that is just a filmy, ephemeral, non-material spirit. But it will be a body in such control and under the dominance of the Spirit fit for a world in which the Holy Spirit governs every thought and motive and every action and deed and desire. That's the glory of the liberty of the children of God. That's what you're marked for, Christian.

57:55 That's what I'm marked for. C.S. Lewis said, if we could see ourselves now as we will be then, we'd have to resist the temptation to fall down and worship one another.

58:06 Now, Paul says by the Spirit, that glory of our position and experience in the day of consummation, it says creation is going to partake of that into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. What's that mean? It means as we are rid of every last vestige of sin and its consequences, so will this created order be rid of it. And as we are endowed in a positive way with bodies and spirits and spirits fit for the immediate presence of God and of the holy angels in a setting in which no longer

58:51 is there a division of heaven and earth, but John sees a new heavens and a new earth coming down out of God. And the whole creation is going to be part of that glorious reality. What's the hope of creation's deliverance? This is what it is.

Question 4: What Present Empirical Evidence Supports This Hope?

59:13 And then finally, what present empirical evidence is there that all of this is true? You sit there this morning and say, Pastor, this sounds too good to be true. What evidence does the apostle bring forward to affirm it's true? Look at the text.

59:28 It's what he knows. Verse 22. For we know. Here's another for.

59:32 You see how it's all hung together logically? You don't want to think. You don't want to understand your Bible. You don't want to learn how to connect thoughts in logical sequence?

59:41 Then tell God to rewrite his Bible, folks. And forever remain in the arrogance of ignorance. It's hung together. For we know.

59:50 Paul says, all this is going to pass because we know something. Well, Paul, what do you know? That is evidence that all this is true. But not only so.

59:59 I'm sorry. For we know that the whole creation, the whole created order, goes on doing two things. It groans, should be literally, groans together. You have the prefix, the Greek preposition, soon, with.

60:13 It with, together, groans, and travails, together. You have the prefix with both verbs. Groan and travail. The whole creation groans together and travails together in pain until now.

60:27 Paul says, you know how uncertain this is going to come to pass? It's because of what I know. And I know that the whole created order is doing two things right up to the present hour. Until now.

60:38 The last words of verse 22. The last words of verse 22. The last words of verse 22. The last words of verse 22.

60:46 The last words of verse 22. What's the first thing it's doing? It's groaning together. Groaning is the sound of taxing labor, of pain and frustration, of disappointed longing.

60:58 You get to the airport, you think your loved one is coming in at 410 and it says, flight delayed. A slave, a master's whip is on his back. He's to carry a burden, a distance that is beyond his endurance and he groans beneath his load. Paul said, we that are in this present moment of physical dwelling do groan being burdened.

61:24 Groaning is the inarticulate language of pain, of excessive labor, of frustration, of disappointed longing and Paul says the whole creation is groaning together. And then he says the whole creation is travailing together literally in birth pangs, delivery pangs. As Calvin observed in almost every commentary of the Old Testament he says, the whole creation is travailing together literally in birth pangs. The commentator I've consulted quotes this from Calvin, the creator of order is not groaning in death throes but in birth pangs.

62:03 Every rumbling active volcano. I can remember as a kid studying about Mount Etna and its front page news in the year 2001. The rumbling of the volcano, the threat of the devastation of typhoon and tidal waves, famine, drought, the whole creation is one horrible symphony in the minor key groaning. The whole creation is a woman in the throes of her final birth pang.

62:39 And Paul says because I know what I know about the original creation all was very good. Creation did not groan and travail. It sang and it shouted and it begged and it humored and it gurgled in the original creation. Now it groans, it sighs, it travails.

63:06 But Paul says I know it travails because of man's sin. And I know that Jesus of Nazareth came and died for sinners and he effected a certain redemption for a great multitude whom no man can number out of every kindred, tribe, and tongue and nation. The Father has said to the Son that he would not be disappointed that he would see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied. And Paul says as long as I hear that minor key dirge those birth pangs of all creation together I know

63:50 that something's being birthed. That's why Jesus said when you hear of wars and rumors the whole creation until now Paul writing in the first century until now the year 2001 the whole creation groans and travails together until until and then what will be birthed is that which will be glorious and fit for the people of God the symphony of sighs and the grand chorus of complaint to the shout of triumph. I close by quoting Octavius Winslow

Conclusion: Living in Light of Creation's Glorious Future

64:35 commenting on this very verse. He shows how the earth is cursed what it was before the curse and then what it will be when the Lord returns. Now in the light of the time I'll bypass that and save it for the next time God willing. To just expound and not apply I've made one or two applications but I can't do any other unless I were to preach a real Puritan sermon for two hours and I don't believe that would be unto your edification

65:19 or unto the pleasure of even some of the most hungry spiritually among you but know this in answer to the question of the return of Christ the physical creation will undergo a radical renovation by the purifying and restorative action of Christ thereby making it a fit place to dwell for the glorified saints in Christ. I've sought to expound responsibly the twin tower passages given to us by the ancient Four-leaf

66:03 Mount the remnant of Jesus in the hymn of the Treatise on the cross of Christ which leads us once to eternal life and to the moment of salvation in our perfect and delusion that money will make them happy. But whatever their delusion is, no one sits in the chair to be a loser. Nobody wants to be a loser. My friend, if you're not in Christ, you're saying,

66:46 I want to be a loser. Because remember, when he purges sin from the physical order and all the effects of it, it will be in conjunction with purging sinners from his universe. The junk heap of sinners who were determined to be losers is what the Bible calls outer darkness, the lake of fire, the place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, banished from all the glorious, marvelous realities that God has stored up for those that love him. In Christ, dear child of God,

67:25 your future's glorious. Why do we get so stuck in the mud of the now? When all this is waiting for us, I've seen people get excited like little kids on Christmas morning when they knew they were going to get on a plane and go to some exotic vacation spot. My friend, it has its groaning and travailing. We ought to get excited about the new heavens and the new earth

67:56 where we'll work and work will be worship and never arduous, draining, sweat-producing labor. We'll sing and we'll dance, never grow weary. Oh, may God help us to live with our hearts where eventually we're going to be. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Let's pray.

68:20 Our Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the things you have clearly revealed.

68:34 And at times we wish you had revealed more, but when we pause to meditate upon what is revealed, confess our hearts are too narrow, our minds too pathetically weak to even to begin to encompass the things you have revealed and stored up for those that love you. We ask your Holy Spirit to take the word preached this morning. Make it a means of grace and blessing to your people. Make it a means of conviction and troubling of soul to those who are not prepared for a returning sovereign. Seal then your word.

69:11 To our hearts we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.