The Inward Groaning of the Saints

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Romans 8:23

And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves…

Note —

I. WHEREUNTO THE SAINTS HAVE ATTAINED.

1. "We have," not "we hope sometimes we have," nor yet "possibly we may have," nor we shall have, but "we have." True, many things are yet in the future, but we have already a heritage which is the beginning of our eternal portion — "the firstfruits of the Spirit," i.e., the first works of the Spirit in our souls — repentance, faith, love. These are called the firstfruits because —

(1) They come first. As the wave-sheaf was the first of the harvest, so the graces which adorn the spiritual life are the first gifts of the Spirit of God in our souls.

(2) They were the pledge of the harvest. As soon as the Israelite had plucked the first handful of ripe ears, they were to him so many proofs that the harvest was already come. So, when God gives us "Faith, hope, charity," "whatsoever things are pure, lovely," etc., these are to us the prognostics of the coming glory.

(3) They were always holy to the Lord. The first ears of corn were offered to the Most High, and surely our new nature, with all its powers, must be regarded by us as a consecrated thing.

(4) They were not the harvest. No Jew was ever content with them. So, when we get the first works of the Spirit of God, we are not to say," I have attained, I am already perfect." Nay, they should but excite an insatiable thirst after more.

2. What the saint has attained will help us to understand why it is that he groans. Having reaped handfuls, we long for sheaves. For the reason that we are saved, we groan for something beyond. Did you hear that groan? It is a traveller lost in the deep snow on the mountain pass. Hear another. The traveller has reached the hospice, is perfectly safe, and is exceedingly grateful to think that he has been rescued; but yet I hear him groan because he has a wife and children down in yonder plain, and the snow is lying so deep that he cannot pursue his journey. Now, the first groan was deep and dreadful; that is the groan of the ungodly man as he perishes; but the second is more the note of desire than of distress. Such is the groan of the believer, who, though rescued and brought into the hospice of Divine mercy, is longing to see his Father's face.

II. WHEREIN ARE BELIEVERS DEFICIENT? In those things for which we groan and wait.

1. This body of ours is not delivered. As soon as a man believes in Christ, his soul is translated from death unto life, and the body indeed becomes a temple for the Holy Ghost; but the grace of God makes no change in the body in other respects. The greatest piety cannot preserve a man from growing old, nor deliver his body from corruption, weakness, and dishonour. Nor is this little, for the body has a depressing effect upon the soul, and its appetites have a natural affinity to that which is sinful. The body is redeemed by price, but it has not yet been redeemed by power. Now this is the cause of our groaning. The soul is so married to the body that when it is itself delivered, it sighs to think that its poor friend should still be under the yoke. If you were a free man, and your wife a slave, the more you enjoyed the sweets of freedom, the more would you pine that she should still be in slavery. And so, again, with the saints in heaven. They are free from sin, but a disembodied spirit never can be perfect until it is reunited to its body. They do not groan, but they long with greater intensity than you and I for the "adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body."

2. Our adoption is not manifested (cf. ver. 19). Among the Romans a man might adopt a child privately; but there was a second adoption, when the child was brought before the authorities, and its ordinary garments were taken off, and the father put on garments suitable to the condition of life in which it was to live. "Now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when He shall appear we shall be like Him"; that is, God will dress us all as He dresses His eldest Son. Cannot you imagine a child taken from the lowest ranks of society and adopted by a Roman senator, saying to himself, "I wish the day were come when I shall be publicly revealed, and be robed as becomes my rank." Happy in what he has received, for that very reason he groans to get the fulness of what is promised him. So it is with us.

3. Our liberty is incomplete. As to our spirits, we have liberty to soar to the heavenly places with Jesus Christ; but as for our bodies, we can only roam about this narrow cell of earth.

4. Our glory is not yet revealed, and that is another subject for sighing. "The glorious liberty" may be translated, "The liberty of glory." We are like warriors fighting for the victory; we share not as yet in the shout of them that triumph. Even up in heaven they have not their full reward. They are waiting till their Lord shall descend from heaven, and the whole of the blood-washed host, wearing their white robes, and bearing their palms of victory, shall march up to their thrones. After this consummation the believing heart is groaning. Let me show you again the difference between a groan and a groan. Go into yonder house: there is a deep, hollow, awful groan. Go to the next house, and there is another much more painful than the first. How are we to judge between them? We will come again in a few days: as we are entering the first house we see weeping faces, a coffin, and a hearse. In the next there is a smiling cherub, and a mother who joys that a man is born into the world. There is all the difference between the groan of death and the groan of life. It is not the pain of death we feel, but the pain of life. We are thankful to have such a groaning. The other night two men working very late were groaning in two very different ways, one of them saying, "Ah, there's a poor Christmas day in store for me." He had been a drunkard, a spendthrift. Now, his fellow workman also groaned. On being asked why, he said, "I want to get home to my dear wife and children. I have such a happy house, I do not like to be out of it." So the Christian has a good Father, a blessed home, and groans to get to it, and there is more joy in the groan of a Christian than in all the mirth of the ungodly.

III. WHAT OUR STATE OF MIND IS. A Christian's experience is like the rainbow, made up of drops of the griefs of earth, and beams of the bliss of heaven.

1. "We groan within ourselves." It is not the hypocrite's groan, who wants people to believe that he is a saint because he is wretched. Our sighs are sacred things. We keep our longings to our Lord.

2. We are "waiting," by which I understand that we are not to be petulant, like Jonah or Elijah, when they said, "Let me die," nor are we to sit still and look for the end of the day because we are tired of work. We are to groan after perfection, but we are to wait patiently for it, knowing that what the Lord appoints is best. Waiting implies being ready. We are to stand at the door expecting the Beloved to open it and take us away to Himself.

3. We are hoping (ver. 24). Conclusion: Here is a test for us all. You may judge of a man by what he groans after. Some men groan after wealth, some because of their great losses or sufferings. But the man that yearns after more holiness, that is the man who is blessed indeed.

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