Title: The Longing (1)/Romans 8:18
Content Ⅰ. The heart of Romans is the gospel.
The centerpiece of Romans, a record of inspiration, is the 'Gospel'.
That is why Romans 1:17 says, “In the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed, from faith to faith, just as it is written, The righteous will live by faith.” It is said that we begin with faith (reception), proceed with faith (sanctification), and achieve through faith (glorification).
The focus of what I have said so far is the fact that the center of the book of Romans is the [Gospel].
The gospel is said to be the gospel of sinners. This is the content of Romans 1:18-3:20.
Jews are sinners, Gentiles are sinners, and all mankind are sinners together. He said that while all mankind were sinners, the message of salvation for sinners must be the 'gospel'.
The next gospel is the fact that it is the gospel of justification by faith. It is the content of Romans 3:21-5:21. It is the gospel that justifies sinners. How can a sinner be justified? That is the fact of faith. Faith, only faith. So, the gospel is the gospel of justification through faith.
Third, Romans is the gospel of sanctification.
That is the content of Romans 6:1 through 8:17.
Are those who are justified by faith in the gospel without sin? no. Those who are justified by faith are also sinners in Christ. Because they are people who are moving towards perfection and are in the process of growing.
Fourth, Romans is the gospel of the cinema.
That is the content of Romans 8:18-31. This scene is 'Open to Cinema', which sings the Christian's final victory.
The part shown in Romans 8:18-31 tells us that we are looking forward to the climax of the glorious future that we as Christians, children of God, will receive. In other words, it is the fact that the entire universe is waiting for the culmination of the glorious salvation we will receive.
II. The long-awaited movie
Romans 8:18 says, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed in us.”
Here, [I think]( ) means 'to calculate' or 'to make a list', but it means not something simple or instantaneous, but something that has been contemplated and concretely confirmed.
The words 'the sufferings of the present' and 'the glory that will be revealed to us in the future' are contrasting.
In the case of the text, the present suffering is the form of lamentation shown in 8:19-27, and the future glory refers to the glory of the final victory shown in 8:28-39.
To put it more explicitly, the sufferings of the present time mean walking the narrow path carrying the cross that belongs to one's share.
It refers to a life of temporal hardship (Matthew 7:13, 14).
The 'glory that will be revealed to us in the future' refers to eternal life as a promised inheritance to be given to Christians through the second coming of Jesus, and a life in a glorious world that will be filled with the rewards of blessing.
Paul said in inspiration that these two worlds are not at all comparable. 'The present and the future' 'The present and the afterlife' 'This world and the other world' 'Earth and Heaven' 'The physical realm and the spiritual realm' 'The finite world and the infinite and eternal world' 'The visible world and the invisible world' ' It was said that 'a house built with hands, a house made of earth, and a house in the sky'.... are truly incomparable worlds of extremes.
While suffering is temporary, the glory we will enjoy in the future is eternal. Compared to the short-lived traveler's journey in this world, it is a fact that in the future, the settlement of one's homeland is eternal.
In other words, it is 'the long-awaited movie'. It is the fact that we are moving from 'from the visible momentary present to the invisible eternal future', 'from the finite to the infinity', and 'from the vanishing world to the immortal world'.
It is the fact that the 'content', 'feel', and 'flow' of the movement are the 'awaited'. The degree of that expectation is expressed in 8:22, [We know that the whole creation groaned and suffered together until now...].
8:23 says, "Not only this, but also we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan within ourselves...".
8:26 says, “In the same way the Spirit helps us in our weakness, and we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”
It should be noted that the exact same words are repeated in these three verses. That's the word 'sigh'.
It is said that the creation is 'groaning'. It is said that 'the saints also groan'. It is said that 'the Holy Spirit also groans'. It was said that the degree of waiting for the world of cinema was 'sighing'.
The word 'groaning' here means 'groaning'. It means 'to groan'. It was said that the creature was groaning. The 'saints' said that all the 'Holy Spirits' were suffering.
Why, and to what extent, does the creature groan so much?
Why do Christians who have received the firstfruits of the Spirit groan? What is it, and to what extent? Why does the Holy Spirit groan? What is it and to what extent? Is that moan of a desperate character? Or is it a hopeful cry?
The Bible clearly states that the groan of creation is the groan of waiting for the Second Coming of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. It is said that all created worlds are struggling with the restoration of faith and the future renewal of the universe that will happen with the second coming of Jesus. It is said that Christians who believe in Jesus are groaning in order to receive the 'redemption of the body', that is, the spiritual body of the resurrection.
It was said that the Holy Spirit is talking about groaning with the spirit of the saints to help these saints in their weakness.
Then, isn't their moaning (groaning) a future-oriented moan?
A purposeful moan, not a necessary moan?
Isn't it like the moaning of those who are giving birth together in front of the moan of a mother in childbirth?
Then, at least, isn't this groaning not a sigh of despair, but a groan from the present hardship to the long-awaited glory of the future?
Then, the 'sigh' here is the expression of 'admiration'.
Grammatically, there is an exclamation point. Ah! Oh! uh! Hey! Gosh! uh huh! expression, etc.
An interjection is that the language a person vomits is the kick of the soul at the last point.
It is by no means a moan more than an eloquence. It's a moan.
When a person who should not die unexpectedly dies, or when a dead person unexpectedly comes to life, when a loved one breaks up with a loved one, when a child is lost, when a lost child is found again...
Or when your heart is fluttering with great hope, when the biggest things happen, when you are seized with great emotions, when a great thought erupts... When you reach a certain correctiveness that cannot be expressed in words...
When standing in front of the majesty of the mysterious Mother Nature, while appreciating beautiful pictures... There are times when people have no way to express their feelings through words or writing, and sometimes they are blocked.
When you get to this point, the exclamation of an uncontrollable burst of emotion that bursts out from the heart of your personality. The degree of admiration is 'groaning', that is, 'groaning', that is, lamenting.
Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Paul was hearing the 'sound of groaning' that filled this creation. Those groans were the groans of hope and the groans of confidence in anticipating the future glory from the sufferings of the present. Those moans were creative moans, productive moans, and future-oriented moans of life. It is the groan of Haksu High School who looks forward and waits. This groan was gradual and purposeful.
The moan of all things was aimed at the glorious restoration of the saints.
The groaning of the saints is looking forward to the body of resurrection, the body of glory, and the body of eternal life. As long as we live on this earth, we are groaning as if burdened in this body. However, it is not to take off the world of liberation, but to put on a better, more perfect, and glorious body of eternal life (2 Corinthians 5:1-4).
The groaning of the Holy Spirit was to help the saints in the process of going from sanctification to glory.
Then moaning and moaning are chours of groaning together. The groaning here in this world is the vomit of hope that promotes the glorification of God's kingdom there.
The creation is connected by groaning and groaning from above while the Holy Spirit is the believer from below. The center of that groan is the glorification of the saints that will come together with the second coming of Christ.
Dear saints!
The world as it seems is complex. The sounds of the world as you hear them are truly dizzying and dizzying. Disorder, corruption, chaos and chaos. And the result of those sounds is emptiness, despair, and darkness.
But Paul was hearing another groan in Christ, in the Holy Spirit, that filled the universe. It was a groan of the Spirit. Those groans had great content and meaning, and they were vomits and purposeful sighs in harmony.
The creation world that never exists is not a place filled with only the sounds of Satan and unbelief. The existing creation world has to look forward to God's salvation plan called the completion of salvation by the elect, that is, the long-awaited future, and sense that there are voices of the grunting spirit.
The Second Coming of Jesus Christ!
The emergence of the innocent world! A new heaven and a new earth have appeared! The reign of the new king! And the cinematic life of complete perfection! eternal world! Endless world!
There is the ideal kingdom in which Christ will rule, the created world in which we look forward to the future of his reign, and the long-awaited world in which the saints and the Holy Spirit groan.
Paul said that he hears, knows, and feels this sound in the Holy Spirit.
No, in Christ, led by the Spirit of Christ, all of today's Christians, me and you, are sharing the sound of this moaning together at this place and time of worship. And in every place and every occasion in the world, believers are accompanied by the groans of this Spirit.
Creatures' longing!
The hope of the saints!
The hope of the Holy Spirit!
It goes hand in hand with a sigh (groaning) towards the film. Such groaning and the harmony of groaning should be the breath of history that God claims. In fact, isn't this moaning and groaning harmony the force that turns the wheel of history?
- Amen -