Your Hope is Certain

Assurance of the Righteous
Romans 8

Your Hope is Certain (vs.18-25)

Review: Your freedom is complete. Your adoption is final. Your hope is certain.

18For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. 20For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. 23And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. 24For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? 25But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.
We all suffer and see our loved ones suffer, but suffering is not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed to us. (As strange as it might seem, at this point my phone rang; it was my wife calling from Arkansas where she is visiting a brother in a hospice who is dying of a very serious blood condition. Another brother died last month.) Suffering is not just for the afflicted but for those also who care for them. Add to this the unnecessary suffering people inflict on one another and you have our dangerous and suffering world. Even those who are saved and bear spiritual fruit suffer with the anxious creation as we wait for the redemption of our bodies. This glorious event is in our future, but since hope is “confident expectation,” it is real to those who have faith and are eagerly waiting for it. If we had already experienced our bodily redemption, we would not be living in hope but in reality, but not seeing it we groan as we wait eagerly for it. Isn’t it wonderful how Paul words this? We all suffer together in our present bodies. We persevere together as we wait eagerly for our redemption. We will be delivered into new bodies in freedom and glory. We accept this by faith; Jesus said He would come for us and we believe He will!
We expect certain things of others but we can’t always be confident that they will perform. People are unpredictable and life is uncertain. Doesn’t it hurt to be disappointed? Don’t we feel badly when we let others down? Perhaps all we can be sure of are death and taxes, but while we wait for April 15th and the end of life, we have God’s promise that our bodies will be redeemed and we will enjoy freedom and glory with Him because we are His children. We must suffer and wait with all of creation, but the glorious day will come when we are safely at home with our Father. Paul assures us that this hope is certain by saying, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 15:13). “By the power of the Hoy Spirit,” how assuring!

If you are right with God you are righteous, and you may be sure of this: Your hope is certain.
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Lisa wrote regarding my last essay (Your Adoption is Final): " I always have to work to remind myself that I’m not striving for my freedom, it is mine. I can honestly say that I didn’t 'get' the concept of grace until about four years ago. My thinking before was like a math or computer programming conditional IF/THEN statement: IF (I do certain things and don’t do others), THEN (I will go to heaven). Now I know that if I have faith and live righteously I can claim the gift that I have already been given!”

You are so right, Lisa. Paul said. “The righteous man shall live by faith” or “He who through faith is righteous shall live.” We gained our righteousness (our right standing with God) by faith and we live righteous lives by faith. In the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed “from faith to faith.” One needs help to fail in understanding a clear statement like this, and we had plenty of help didn’t we?