In his sermon titled 'Sufferings and Glory on the Scales,' Jason Dohm explores Romans 8:12-25, where Apostle Paul compares present sufferings to future glory for believers. Dohm emphasizes that the struggles faced by Christians are insignificant when weighed against the eternal glory promised to them as co-heirs with Christ. The sermon highlights the role of the Holy Spirit, described as the first fruits, providing believers with assurance and an internal impulse to cry out to God as 'Abba, Father.' Dohm explains that creation itself eagerly awaits the revelation of God's children, as this will bring about a restoration from the corruption caused by sin. Believers, too, groan and anticipate their full adoption and the redemption of their bodies. The sermon encourages Christians to train their minds to view sufferings with an eternal perspective, and to recognize the stark difference between the future glory awaiting believers and the eternal sufferings that await unbelievers. This perspective helps maintain hope and perseverance through current hardships, knowing that the future glory is both qualitatively and quantitatively greater.

Our sermon text is going to be 18 through 25, but James asked me to read the first eight chapters of Romans. I wish I could. So tempting, I want to. If you haven't done that, my wife said a week or two ago, I want to go back and read those first eight chapters. It's a great practice actually because you're stepping back through some beautifully deep water.

So we're going to restrict ourselves from 12 through 25 as we prepare now. God help us, this is so beautiful. Romans chapter 8 starting in verse 12 through 25. Therefore brethren we are debtors not to the flesh to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die.

But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you did not receive the Spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God and if children then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ if indeed we suffer with Him that we may also be glorified together. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope. Because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.

For we were saved in this hope. But hope that is seen is not hope. For why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, We eagerly wait for it with perseverance. Amen.

The title of the sermon this morning is Sufferings and Glory on the Scales. Paul is pulling out the scales for us in our text. Last week, James took us through four evidences that should give the believer assurance of salvation. So do you want to Be confident that God has put His hand on you and claimed you for His own. Paul helps us.

He gives us these four assurances that James took us through last week. That are evidences that God has laid claim to us and that we have a right to believe that we're saved. Right in the heart of that text we have verse 14. Just look back at verse 14. Paul says, for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, These are sons of God.

So verse 14, I said in the opening of chapter 8, verses 9 and 14, set the terms for us. They're definitional. They define the terms. And that's certainly true of verse 14. Those who are led by the Spirit are the sons of God.

So if you are led by the Spirit, then you are a child of God by definition. And if you are a child of God, then you are led by the Spirit of God by definition. Those things always go together. They must be true. If one is not true, the other is not true.

If one is true, then the other is true. So really helpful defining of the terms. This means that if you are a child of God, then you are led by the Spirit of God. One of those leadings of the Spirit of God is that He gives you this internal impulse by which you cry out Abba Father. We have this most tender, but also most respectful, most honoring term.

They're both at the same time. Both very tender and both very honoring and respectful, all in one word, Abba. Abba Father. So that's part of the leading of the Holy Spirit, is you get this internal impulse along with the Holy Spirit that makes you know that you know that you know that God is your father, that you are a child of God. Then Paul goes on to say, if you're a child, then you're an heir.

Even a joint heir with Jesus. Jesus is your brother. There's a mindblower for you. Jesus is the brother of believers and you are joint heirs, co-heirs with him. You have a right to the inheritance just like Jesus has a right to the inheritance.

Can you believe that? Now Paul in our text works out the implications of that. So he's named believers co-heirs with Christ, brothers and sisters of the inheritor of the inheritance, and you along with him. And now he works out the implication in our text. So that's really what's before us today is, what does that mean for me if I am a co-heir?

Paul tells us. Let's pray. God, these are deep waters and glorious truths. I thank you. I thank you so much for them.

Just the glory of these truths. They may be too good to understand, but they're not too good to be true because you have said them. I praise you for that God and I pray that the truth of these things, the glory of these things, the encouragement of these things would settle on us. As we look at your word, may it be so in Jesus' name, amen. Okay, we're subdividing.

Let's look at verse 18. I'll reread verse 18 and then we'll look at it before moving on. Romans 8, 18. Paul writes, 4. I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

In verse 18, Paul gives us the sufferings of the heirs compared with their future glory. So if you're taking notes on the handout, filling in blanks, sufferings fills in the first blank, glory fills in the second blank. The sufferings of the heirs, those who will inherit with Jesus, Alongside Jesus, their sufferings are compared with their future glory. Paul brings something into consideration. He says, for I consider.

Let's consider. What are we considering? The sufferings of the present with the glory of the future. So, here's what we're considering. Sufferings of the present, glory of the future.

Paul brings out the scales. So let's put these things on the scales. We're going to take the sufferings of the present, we're going to put them on one side of the scales, and we're going to take the glory of the future for the heirs, and we're going to put it on the other side of the scale, and we're going to see what happens. The sufferings of the present are top of mind enough, are they not? The sufferings of the present, top of mind?

Yes, they are top of mind. Why are they top of mind? Because they are the difficult things that are happening right now. We can't escape most of them. A few of them are self-inflicted wounds.

Maybe we could do something about that. But most of the sufferings of the present, we can't escape. Roman Christians in the first century Rome certainly couldn't escape them. Do you follow the logic? Paul is, it's for us, but he's not writing specifically to us.

He's writing a letter to first century Romans. We know about first century Rome. We know about the Caesar of that time, we know that Paul will be martyred in Rome because of the present sufferings of the people that he's writing to. Paul will actually get caught up in their present sufferings. They couldn't escape them.

Our present sufferings are always top of mind. So he takes what's top of mind, these present sufferings, and he puts them on the scales. What is his conclusion? This is not even worthy to be compared with that. This, the things that are so top of mind right now, that are pressing on me right now, that are causing suffering in my life right now are not even worthy to be compared with that, with the future glory.

The glory that is awaiting for all those who will inherit right alongside the Lord Jesus Christ because he's their brother and that gives them a right to inherit everything that he inherits. Not even worthy to be compared. The scale is instantly tipped in favor of the glory of the future for believers, for heirs, for those who will inherit right alongside Jesus. Paul says, in essence, this isn't quoting the text, this is my paraphrase. He's saying, in essence, we're wasting our time here.

We're wasting our time here. There is a glory which shall, just hear the certainty of that, shall be revealed in the coheirs of Jesus, which so far outweighs the sufferings of the present, that it is a waste of time comparing them. They are not worthy of comparison. But Paul you say, you don't know how much a person could possibly suffer in the present. You don't have the full scope of human history.

You know about your sufferings, but you don't know about all sufferings, how can you say that? When we say that, Paul, you don't know how much I could possibly suffer. How can you say that? It's because we don't understand the implication of what Paul is teaching. The implication is this.

That's irrelevant. The present sufferings on this side of the scale for any person, However big, difficult, terrible, how high the pile is, is irrelevant. Now, how in the world could that be irrelevant? Because the glory is so overwhelmingly weighty that no amount of present suffering could even begin to tip the scale in the other direction. If that's not true, then this doesn't make sense.

How could Paul even say that? Paul, how dare you? You haven't seen all the suffering. He says, it doesn't matter. I don't need to see all the suffering.

All I need to know is the weight of the glory that awaits the coheirs to know that no present suffering could even begin to make a dent against the weight of the glory. Turn and look at how Paul describes it in 2 Corinthians 4. So turn to 2 Corinthians 4, the very end of that chapter. Same subject, different people he's writing to. We're studying his letter to the Romans.

This is his second letter to the Corinthians, but the same exact subject. 2 Corinthians, end of chapter 4, beginning in 16. I'll read through the end of the chapter which is verse 18. 2 Corinthians 4 16 through 18. Paul writes, Therefore we do not lose heart, even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporary, But the things which are not seen are eternal." So exactly the same topic before us, he begins by saying, there's a reason why coheirs don't lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, there is such a thing as present sufferings. Is there not? Our inward man is being renewed day by day.

The glory has already started. The glory of the future has begun in the present for the believer. We don't have to wait for everything. That's also true, is it not? We don't have to wait for everything.

We have to wait for some things, but not for everything. The inward man is being renewed day by day. And then he, you might say, has the nerve to call these present sufferings light momentary afflictions. Let me ask you a question. Why do you think Paul endured his present sufferings?

There are times in his letters where he lists them, and they're long lists, and everything on the list is worse than anything in my present sufferings. Do you find that when you read his list? Like, okay, that's worse than anything I'm facing today. That's worse than anything I'm facing today. That's worse than anything I'm facing today.

That's worse and on and on and on. No shipwrecks or stonings for me. That was part of Paul's experience. So his present sufferings are worse and yet he keeps enduring. I feel like such a wimp.

He keeps enduring. Why is he doing that? Because he has the scales in view. He sees the present sufferings. He's not denying the present sufferings.

He's calling them present sufferings. He knows that they're happening now and he knows that it is real suffering, but he can also see the other side of the scale and that there's so much weight to the future glory that it's a waste of time to compare them. They're not worthy of comparison. That's why Paul endured his present sufferings, even though his present sufferings were a lot worse than my present sufferings. He could keep going because he has the scales in view, and he can see the other side of the scale.

He knows that this side of the scale, by comparison, is light, not non-existent, but by comparison light and temporary. It does help that it's temporary. With his blood, Jesus has purchased a future for his brothers and sisters, for his co-heirs, those who will inherit the kingdom alongside him, that is so glorious that it dwarfs these light, momentary afflictions. But they don't feel light and they don't feel momentary. We're in the present and so these things are top of mind.

They don't feel light, they feel heavy. They're heavy to us now. And they don't feel momentary. They feel like they're going to last forever. But by comparison, they are light on the authority of the Word of God.

And by comparison, they are momentary by the authority of the Word of God with eternity in the background. They don't feel like they don't feel momentary. That's why we need this instruction. Why do you think Paul is saying it? Because they don't feel light and they don't feel momentary.

They feel heavy. They feel like they're going to last forever. So Paul shows you the other side of the scale to give you perspective. I know they don't feel light. I know they don't feel momentary.

That's why we need Paul to say what he's saying if these things are true and they're true. The future glory will have an exceeding weight qualitatively and quantitatively. Okay, now he's trotting out the big words. Like, why are you doing that? Let's unpack them.

The future glory, what waits for the co-heirs, what is in store for the co-heirs, will have an exceeding weight. It's so weighty that it's a waste of time to compare our present sufferings. They will have an exceeding weight qualitatively. Meaning the quality of them will be surpassing anything. As bad as the sufferings are now, so much weightier will be the good of the glory that awaits us.

There's a qualitative difference that isn't worthy of comparison. It's a waste of time to compare how bad the current sufferings are with how great the future glory will be. They're qualitatively not worthy of comparison. And quantitatively, There are less afflictions than there are glories, and they are so much more momentary, and the glories are eternal. It's not even worthy of comparison.

If we could see the timeline, we wouldn't be able to see the far end of eternity. The Bible says that life is just a vapor. It's like a breath. When we're in eternity, when we're into eternity, and thousands of thousands of ages have passed by, we'll look back on our life and we won't even know how to measure something so small. Do you understand that?

The glories last forever. Thousands of thousands of ages. What is that? I don't know. We struggle with language to describe it because we don't really even know what that means.

It's unending. So the glories are better than the sufferings are bad, and they last forever. They're qualitatively better and they're quantitatively forever. Something finite versus something infinite. You could number your present sufferings.

We won't be able to quantify at all the glories that await the co-heirs with Jesus Christ because the inheritance is so fantastic and massive. That's what Paul is saying. One final thing to say. Is this talking about the glory which will be revealed in heaven? Yes, but there's more.

Paul is zeroing in on something here. He says, the glory which shall be revealed in us. And so it is the glories of heaven before us, but he's getting more precise. The glory which shall be revealed in us. What is the glory that will be revealed in us?" I don't feel qualified to answer that question.

But I can take us to a place that at least gives us something to consider. And that is 1 John 3. James was there last week. James read 1 John 3, I think just one, Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called the children of God. What manner of love is it that takes enemies and makes them children?

The Apostle John is just marveling at that whole thing in verse 1. But listen to verses 2 and 3. I'm in 1 John 3, 1 through 3. He goes on to say, Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him, did not know the Father. Beloved, now we are children of God, And it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see him as he is.

Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure. Look again at verse 2. Where the children of God, it hasn't been revealed what we shall be. So I'm not the only one who doesn't really know how to describe what's coming. Hasn't been revealed what we shall be.

But We know this, we know that when he is revealed, when Jesus is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. We're going to be like him. We're going to be with Him and see Him face to face. And this is going to somehow have such a transformative effect on us, being in His presence, seeing Him face to face, that we will be like Him. That is glory revealed in me.

That is glory revealed in us. Some of you are suffering with tremendous health problems right now. They're real, they're present, it is suffering. The glory to be revealed will be so much greater than your tremendous health problems and it will last forever. Health problems are real and hard, but they will not last forever.

It just seems like it. It just feels like it. Take heart. The glory to be revealed will be so much greater and it will last forever. For some of you, your faith has cost you many of your family relationships.

Many of your relationships, period. The glory to be revealed will be so much greater than the loss of those relationships and it will last forever. For some of you, financial challenges have been a part of life for so long. It just seems like it's going to last forever. The glory to be revealed will be so much greater than your financial challenges, it will last forever.

And on and on and on and on. Make the pile however you want. Let them be as bad as they can be in human history, and it is a waste of time comparing them with the glory that shall be revealed in the co-heirs who are brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ, who in Him have a right to His inheritance." This is what Paul is teaching. Again, All of these things are real. They're not to be dismissed as if it wasn't suffering.

This is not turn the frown upside down theology. Oh look, it's a smile. It wasn't really a frown at all. No, no, Paul is saying they are frowns. They are present sufferings.

We're not just turning the frown upside down. This is no mind trick to get you to think that bad things are good things. This is perspective. These present sufferings are not to be dismissed as if it's not suffering. But Paul would at least exhort us to view them in the long term scope because it shrinks them.

When all you can see is present sufferings and you have the tunnel vision, everything blocked out by the things that are putting pressure on you right now, they seem so big. But if you can just step back and see the expansion and know that an eternal weight of glory is waiting for you. It never ends and it's better in every way than the bad that is putting pressure on you right now. You at least have the comfort of perspective. It shrinks your present sufferings.

Back to our text. The next section is 19 through 22. Romans 8, 19 through 22. Follow along as I re-read it. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope. Because the creation itself will also be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now." In these verses, Paul speaks of the earnest expectation of creation. Creation is earnestly expecting something. What is it?

The great day, that great day when Jesus returns and the sons and daughters of God are revealed. Listen to how Jesus describes it in Matthew 25. Just listen. This is Matthew 25 verses 31 through 34. Jesus describes this great day when the sons and daughters of God are revealed.

Matthew 25 beginning in 31, When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And he will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the king will say to those on his right hand, come you blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Come inheritors!

Come co-heirs! Come co-inheritors! You're mine. Come over here. You're mine.

Come over here. You're mine. Come over here. Inherit! You're an heir.

You're my brother. You're my sister. This is the King saying this. Come and inherit." Jesus is talking about the revelation, the sons and daughters of God being revealed on the day when He returns. He will return.

He will reveal them. People didn't know. People didn't notice. A lifetime went by and hardly anybody noticed, so many of us. Jesus is going to put us on the right hand and say, inherit.

Well then, what is so special about that day for the rest of creation? We know it will be special for everyone on the right hand. It will be special for everyone in certain ways. Why will it be so special for the rest of creation. This is why.

All that mankind made wrong by bringing sin and death into the world will be made right. In the snap of the fingers, in the twinkling of an eye. Everything that we made wrong by bringing sin and death and all the sorrows that come with it into the world is going to be made right in the twinkling of an eye. And creation can't wait! Paul personifies the rest of creation.

He gives the rest of creation human traits. In this case, The rest of creation is given the traits of an impatient person. A foot tapper. Can't wait. Impatient.

Paul portrays the rest of creation as Unable to wait, impatient for the day when everything that was made wrong by mankind and our bringing sin and death into the world is made right. And Paul portrays the rest of creation as groaning today under the weight of corruption. Jesus spoke about this too. Listen to Jesus. I just read out of Matthew 25, now listen to me read out of Matthew 24 verses 6-8.

Matthew 24, 6-8. Jesus says, you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled. For all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.

All these are the beginning of sorrows. And it's translated sorrows here, but if we were looking at the Greek, what's translated as sorrows in Matthew 24 and translated as birth pains are from the same word group. You find the same root in them. So you could translate them vice versa. We could say, are the beginning of birth pains.

Here. If you look back at the curse in Genesis 3, man disobeys for the first time, sins for the first time, corruption comes into our race through this first sin and then the curse you find thorns and thistles requiring toile and sweat just to get food. God didn't create the earth that way. He didn't create the earth with thorns and thistles which require toil and sweat just to get food. The garden wasn't like that.

Creation wasn't originally designed for wars, for famines, for sickness, for natural disasters. We brought that into the world by bringing sin and death into the world. Creation was originally designed to bring glory to God, but God can't overlook sin, and God doesn't overlook sin, and God didn't overlook that sin. And so he subjected creation to futility. It couldn't fulfill its purpose as it was designed to, to bring glory to God, just like we.

We can't fulfill our purpose to be image bearers. Even in the born-again state, we're not fully there yet. Correct? Correct. But God did it in hope.

He couldn't overlook sin, so he didn't overlook sin. So creation was subjected to futility. It couldn't fulfill its purpose to glorify Him as He originally designed it. But He did it in hope. God also had a confident expectation.

That's what hope is. A confident expectation. When he subjected the creation to futility, he did it with an eye towards the future, knowing exactly what he would do to the future. What was his confident expectation? He had a plan to send a mighty Savior to make right all the things that man made wrong by bringing sin and death into the world.

God anointed his son. I'm setting you apart to go make all that right. All that man made wrong in the fullness of time, son you will go and you will make it right. This is what Jesus did when he took on flesh, came into the world, lived this life of perfection, and laid down his life. When believers, when co-heirs, Get our glorious liberty from corruption, so does creation.

When we get our glorious liberty, creation gets its glorious liberty. And creation can't wait. It's personified as an impatient person. A foot tapper. It wants to be free from all that mankind has brought into the world that was wrong.

It knows that one has been anointed to make it right. And he will make it right. We brought sin and death, corruption and sorrows into the world. But God is going to bring all that to an end through the work of His Son for the entirety of creation. Praise the Lord.

If you are a son or daughter of God through Jesus, you should eagerly anticipate what Paul calls your glorious liberty. That sounds good. Your glorious liberty. It is coming. Paul just said in the last chapter, chapter 7, Oh wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death?

I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. The salvation from this body of death is coming through Jesus Christ our Lord. Back to our text to the last subsection. Verses 23 through 25. Follow along as I reread Romans 8, 23 through 25.

Paul writes, not only that, but we also who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves grown within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is not seen is not hope, for why does one still hope for what one sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. In this section we have the earnest expectation of the heirs. Heirs fills in the blank.

The last section was the earnest expectation of creation. What's creation waiting for? The revelation of the sons of God. Because when we get our liberty, the creation gets its liberty from these corruptions. Now in this section we have the earnest expectation of the heirs.

That fills in the blank. Paul says there's more. Not only that but also Paul says that believers, the co-heirs, the brothers and sisters who will also inherit are like creation. Creation groans, we groan. Creation is eager to be free from sin and death, corruption and sorrows.

We are eager to be free from sin and death, corruption and sorrows. Is this not true? Of course this is true. Here is the Holy Spirit again. I think the Holy Spirit appears something like 20 times in this chapter.

This time Paul calls the Holy Spirit the first fruits, the first fruits of the Spirit. I think the right way to understand this is the Spirit is the first fruits. What is the first fruits? Most of us aren't farmers. We have no farmers here.

What is the first fruits? The first fruits is the first taste of the harvest. The very first of the harvest to ripen. The first fruits is the down payment, as it were, of the good things to come. There is a lot more to come, but you get a taste of it now.

Back in verse 15, the Holy Spirit was called the Spirit of Adoption. Paul said that the Holy Spirit gives the believer this internal impulse to cry out to God as Abba, Father. Now in our text the Holy Spirit is said to give us another internal impulse, a groaning to be free from corruption so earlier he says If you're led by the spirit you're you're a son of God if you're a son of God You're led by the spirit and part of this leading of the spirit is this internal impulse God You're my father in the most tender yet respectful and honoring terms. God you're my Father. Here he says there's another internal impulse that this indwelling Spirit gives to you, one that causes you to groan about the remaining corruptions.

Isn't that true? A groaning to be free from corruption. An eager anticipation of our adoption, the redemption of our body. To have a new body that doesn't have any of these corruptions anymore. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, this corruptible puts on incorruption.

We now have corruptible bodies with remaining corruptions. Then when we get our new bodies, the redemption of our body, we're putting on the incorruptible. Not even capable of corruption. Amen to that. Let's have that.

This mortal puts on immortality and in our current bodies we're subject to death, but when the redemption of our bodies happens we'll get this new body that isn't subject to death, incapable of dying. A body incapable of sickness, incapable of dying. Can you imagine that? This is the hope of our salvation. Paul says we were saved in this hope.

You want to know what the hope of your salvation is? That's it. This is the confident expectation of the believer. That's what hope is. Confident expectation.

Banished from your thoughts are our normal usage of it which has hope being wishful thinking. No, no, no. Hope in the New Testament is confident expectation. It isn't seen yet, but that's what makes it hope and not the current reality. We eagerly wait for it with perseverance.

Be patient, believer. There are present sufferings. Paul gets it. Paul names it. Paul's not trying to rename it.

He plays mind tricks on you. He acknowledges present sufferings. He says, be patient. Where in the world am I? Be patient.

Be patient. Run with endurance. Be patient. Run with endurance. That's Hebrews 12.

Run with endurance. The race that's set before us. Keep your eyes on the scales. You can't help but look at this side because it's right in front of your face. Don't have tunnel vision.

Back up so you can see both sides of the scales and see that it's really a waste of time to compare these things. They're not worthy of comparison. If you're only looking at the present sufferings, they consume you. But when you back up and you consider the future glory that is the certain hope, we were saved in this hope, it's the certain hope of the co-inheritors with Jesus. It changes our perspective about everything.

One final point and then a few applications. Verse 23 in isolation makes the adoption of the believer seem to be future. Paul says, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. My exhortation about that is that we not look at it in isolation, but that we keep it in context. Verse 16, we are the children of God.

It's hard to wiggle out of that one. Verse 17, we're heirs and if heirs then co-heirs. These things are spoken of as being present realities for the believer. I think Paul is communicating this. So why does he make adoption seem future?

Here's what I think he's doing. Believers have been adopted by God. Believers are His children and therefore He is their Father. Otherwise Jesus wouldn't teach us to pray, our Father. So these things are present tense, that is reality.

But, but, but, a time is coming when all the privileges of that adoption can be enjoyed. Can they all be enjoyed now? No they cannot. We are adopted, but the time is future when we will live in the home with all the liberty and privileges of the home. I think that is what Paul is communicating.

He's talking about the time when all the corruptions are gone and we enjoy all the liberties and privileges of that adoption. Applications I give you two. Number one, Train your brain. Train your brain. Train it to do what?

To identify when present sufferings are giving you tunnel vision. Train your brain. To recognize this. My view has skinned down to just the things that are putting pressure on me right now, my present sufferings. You want your mind to be recognized that has happened, that is happening.

Then when you identify that is happening, look up at the scales. Look up at the scales. That's the whole reason you train your brain to recognize oh I've got tunnel vision, I need to back up and realize that qualitatively and quantitatively, the future purchased for me by Jesus Christ is nowhere near worth comparing to these present sufferings. A glorious day of glorious freedom is coming. That's number one, train your brain.

Identify tunnel vision. Two, understand the crushing distinction between the believer and the unbeliever. I haven't talked about this so far, But this is the implication of what Paul is teaching a crushing distinction between the believer and the unbeliever The believer has present sufferings, but they're not even worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed in us The unbeliever is the exact opposite The unbeliever seeks present pleasures totally disconnected from honoring God, but those present pleasures are not worthy to be compared with the future and eternal sufferings that await them. Okay, so the believer sufferings now, glory forever. The unbeliever seeking a little pleasure now, sufferings forever.

What's true for the believer will be true in the opposite for the unbeliever. You seek these light, momentary pleasures now, and you plunge yourself into an eternity of sufferings. The exact opposite of the present and future for the believer. Let me close with 2 Corinthians 4. I read that earlier.

It was the first place we went. Now I'm going to continue into chapter 5 because there's an uninspired chapter break there. So I'm going to bust right through it and read 2 Corinthians 4, 16 through 5, 5. Where Paul is saying much the same things, but he adds some color. It's a good way to end, I think.

2 Corinthians 4, starting in 16 and going. Paul says, Therefore we do not lose heart, even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven. If indeed having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent grown, being burdened not because we want to be unclosed, but further closed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now he who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given the Spirit as a guarantee.

There's your first fruits, there's your early taste of the harvest that is to come, the guarantee that the Spirit of God. Father, may our hearts be encouraged by stepping back, looking at the scales, knowing that no amount of present sufferings, looking across all of human history, no amount of present sufferings is even worthy of comparison with the future purchased for your people by the blood of your Son. Oh God, help us to see it when our view has been reduced to our present sufferings. Help us to back up and see everything in the scales. In Jesus' name, Amen.