Well, good morning to you folks. I'm very thankful to be with you here at Burnt Hickory today and have been so thankful in hearing how God has been working in this church through this church for so many years and also very thankful to be here with Matt and Melissa and knowing how faithfully they have served the Lord here for so many years and to join with you on this day when we're remembering our nation in a very special way, 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. And in that regard, I want us to talk today about the ultimate hope. The ultimate hope not just for us as individuals, but for us as a nation, for us as a church where our ultimate hope is. And so we're gonna look to God's word for that and I wanna ask you to turn in your Bibles, if you will, to Romans chapter eight.
If you're new to Bible study, this is how you find it. Go to the New Testament, you find Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans. There it is. And go to chapter eight. We're gonna be looking at verses 18 through 25 to really understand what our ultimate hope is. And I think it's always great when we look at the word of God to honor God himself by standing for the reading of his word. So if you're physically able, would you stand now as we read God's word from Romans eight beginning in verse 18?
"For 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. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly 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 that the creation itself would also be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole world, the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And 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. For in hope we have been saved. But hope that is seen is not hope.
For who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see with perseverance, we wait eagerly for it. Father, as we stand before you to honor you as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, we pray now that you will speak to us right where we're living. You know what we're going through. You know those that are suffering, those who are going through a great time in their life and a lot in between.
You know where we are as a nation, as a people here on ear? Oh Lord, we need you to speak. And Father, as always, we thank you that you choose to speak through your eternal, perfectly true, written word of God that points us to Jesus Christ. May Christ be glorified in all that is said and done here. For it's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen. You may be seated. It is a long time to stand through the sermon. This is a significant weekend for America. 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776. And it calls me this week to do some thinking about some of the incredible, really what I think are almost miracles that occurred in the early days of America. You see, when the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, it was 11 years before we had a Constitution.
And it was 13 years before the Constitution was implemented and we had our first president, a Supreme Court in the Federal Judiciary, and the House of Representatives and a Senate to make up the Congress. Can you imagine that? All three branches of the executive occurred 13 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. On top of that, to think back at the age of so many of our founding fathers that we're incredibly blessed at the genius of the unique founding fathers we have. Thomas Jefferson was 33 years old when he wrote the Declaration of Independence. Can you imagine that? And George Washington was 44 years old. John Adams was 40 years old. Alexander Hamilton, 21 years old. Amazing. He would not even have finished college today. And then there was the old sage. We had one old guy by the name of Ben Franklin.
He was 70 years old. He probably gave them some wisdom. A lot of you feel like that maybe your favorite Bible verse is God helps those who help themselves, but it's not in the Bible. That's Ben Franklin. And a lot of Americans claim it. But he was the wise old soul in the midst of all this, the youth of getting America started. Not only that, we had already begun the Revolutionary War against the most powerful empire on the face of the earth, the British Empire. It was said for many years that the Sun never set on the British Empire because continent after continent after continent were colonies of the British Empire. And so here was this militia, if you will, led by General Washington taking on the greatest power on the face of the Earth and we won amazingly. But not only that, think about General Washington who became our first president.
Do you know that when he was elected by the electors in 1789, that he was unanimously elected? The only time in a presidential election that ever occurred. Now, in those days, they didn't have the popular vote, but they did have what we now know as the electoral college representatives from all the states or the colonies of that day. He was unanimously elected. That's never happened again. And not only that, when he served two terms as president of the United States, he voluntarily decided not to run for office again. It was extraordinary. The example he set when it came to the use of power for good, he was willing to let go when he was the most respected and popular man in all the nation, when he literally could have been king. He chose to hand it off to another man. And it's very interesting, King George III, who was that very really, he was kind of half crazy king of Britain during those days, when he heard that Washington was planning not to run for office for a third term and let go of all that power.
He said, "If that is true, that is the greatest man in the world." Now think about the incredible freedom and the incredible prosperity that has occurred over 250 years in America. It really is extraordinary. We are amazingly blessed. But we do also know that since that first presidential election where there was a unanimous vote for George Washington, it has never been that way since. We have survived a lot of division. We have survived a lot of challenges. Historians tell us that in that presidential election between President Adams and Thomas Jefferson, in that presidential election, it was so bitter. It was so vicious that it makes presidential elections of our day look like child's play. Now for some of you, that's hard to understand. But it was tough. Division right there from the beginning. And then less than 40 years after we were founded as a nation, the British invad again in the war of 1812.
They did great damage. It didn't look good for a period of time there, but we survived that. And then in 1860s, the Civil War, the war between the states, thankfully, that brought about freedom of slave from slavery in our land that was such a sinful albatross, especially in the Southern states in our land. Thankfully, that change was made. And thankfully we survived that. Then you go to the 20th century, World War I. Then a terrible depression. World War II. And then we think about the 1960s. There was one great change that came out of the 60s and that was a civil rights movement that forever brought up change in the law so there would be equality between the races in our land. But the 60s brought tremendous trauma. It was the decade of terrible assassinations that shook our culture. And it was also the decade when the mindset of generally accepting a Judeo-Christian ethic was greatly challenged by a new mindset of secularism.
And with that came the sexual revolution. With that came an invasion of the drug culture like the world had never seen before. And to this day in 2026, we're still dealing with the after effects with the polarization of our land in that regard. And so in that light, thinking back on these 250 years, let's come back to God's word to understand what our ultimate hope is in Jesus Christ. Now look at verse 19 of our passage today. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. It's been said that these days are the age of anxiety. And it was interesting reading in, I think it was December 2022, they had an article on teenage girls in America. And I was stunned by what I read about the epidemic of anxiety and depression among teenage girls today. Almost half the teenage girls of America were experiencing some kind of very severe anxiety or depression.
A lot of this has been so greatly influenced by social media. And so a lot of people feel like we're living in the age of anxiety. Even though the stock market has been soaring, there is still anxiety about the future of the economy. Even though there seems to be something of a ceasefire in this war with Iran, there is still an uncertainty that can create anxiety. And then there's the mindset of wondering what is, what's gonna happen with AI? Or am I still gonna have a job with all the changes of AI? You can say we're living in the age of anxiety and we are. But understand it has not always been this way, but it has been this way for a very long period of time. Now let's back up.
In Genesis one and two, when God created the world and created Adam and Eve, everything was perfect. Everything was good. As a matter of fact, when God finished the creative process, he said it is very good. So at that point in history, you had man living in a paradise, ma having the perfect job, man and woman having the perfect marriage. Everything was great. But then Genesis three, when man began to sin, when man chose to sin against God, when God had given man all of these blessings, everything wonderful, just the command not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. But Adam and Eve, like you and me, had this mindset of wanting to have it all. And so when they p - took of that time, anxiety in the world began to occur. Look at verse 20 of our passage. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it.
In other words, when Adam and Eve sinned against God, there was an unsettlement that came over the world and you read about what occurred then. There was for the first time in all of history, man experienced guilt and shame and a cover up and fear because of wondering about their relationship with God when it had been such a harmonious relationship with God. There was the man - mindset of victimization. The woman blamed the snake. The man blamed the woman and even blamed God for bringing that woman into his life. The mindset of victimization of always having someone else to blame for our own shortcomings. And then the battle of the sexes. The tension in what had been a perfect marriage relationship all of a sudden began to be concerned, uneasiness, anxiety, unsettledness, dissatisfaction and the futility in work. It had been a paradise, but now the harder man worked.
There were depressions. There were famines. There were floods. There was a sense of futility in the work that had not been there before. And all of this creates anxiety because of the sin of man. Now the Bible doesn't tell us this, but there was no such thing as the, the Bible does tell us this, that there was no such thing as wild animals before the fall. There was perfect harmony with man and the animals and animals with animals. But I can just picture that when Adam and Eve sin for the first time in the animal kingdom, there was a shudder among the animal kingdom. And all of a sudden the animals begin to fear man and animals begin to fear one another all because of the decision of original sin. And that's what God is talking about here. Verse 20 tells us for the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly.
It was the choice of Adam and Eve, but all of creation was subjected to this. And then it says in hope that the creation itself will also be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. In other words, mankind has had this longing to set things right, to make things right. Now listen, are you listening? If there's one thing those of you who are Christian have in common with those friends and acquaintances you have that are not Christian, it is this. The world as it exists today is not what we long for it to be.
It's not. Because of the anxiety and because of the unsettlement of creation, because of the sin of man, the world is not what we long for it to be. And since this time, there has been a hope that somehow something will occur to make things right. Perhaps as America has become more and more godless, there has been the mindset that political ideology or political candidates, they will set things right. But the reality is that will never occur through the power of government and politics. Yes, those decisions are important, but there is something even more important that scripture is speaking about today. God's word goes on. The creation was subjected to futility not willingly, but because of him who subjected it and hope that the creation itself will be set free from slavery that's the slavery to sin into the freedom of the glory of children of God.
For we know verse 22, we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. Now, when Paul speaks about this, it is an imagery that he got from Jesus. When the disciples were asking Jesus about the signs of his coming again in Matthew 24, you see in verses four through eight that Jesus begins to talk about the signs of his coming. He talks about an increase of false massage, false prophets. He talks about an increase of wars and, and rumors of wars. He talks about an increase of natural disasters. And he says like birth pains.
And in saying that, he's talking about a mindset. Really it's a teaching genius of Jesus to use this analogy because there have been false massages. There've been false prophets. There've been wars and rumors of wars. There've been natural disasters for the 2000 years since Christ walked on this earth. But to call, to say it is like birth pains, he is saying that there will be an increase in this to where they will become more frequent, more regular and more intense. There will be a groaning about this. Now, I got a confession, I've never experienced birth pains. And probably half the folks in here have never experienced birth pains. But some of you have given birth to a child. And you know about birth pains. Now I learned about birth pains in a more detailed way when my wife, Anne, who's with us today, when she became pregnant with our oldest son, George.
And I'm from the boomer generation. You know the boomers are kind of, we're, we're weird ducks. I mean, in a lot of ways, the weirdest generation ever come down the American Pike. And, and we felt like we had to have a class for everything. So we had to have a class on how to have a baby. You know, man's been having babies since Neanderthal, man, but, but boomers felt like we had to go to a class. So we went to class, we held our pillows, we learned how to breathe. And I learned my responsibility was to rub Anne's back when she was going through labor. Well, I listened very good. And Anne had been in labor with George for a good long time and I've been rubbing her back for about an hour and a half. And I turned to her and I said, "You know, this rubbing your back is wearing you, wearing me out.
" She went, "Ha, ha, ha." I, I mean, she didn't really scream like that, but I, uh, when you get to know Anne, she's a lovely person. She's winsome with people, but the daggers in her eyes at that point. Wearing you out. That's what she was telling me. It was the dumbest statement in the history of men. Because those of you who have gone through birth pains, you know, they are very intense and they get more and more intense and they get more and more regular until the birth of the baby comes.
And then when that occurs, there is such joy at the bringing of new life into this world. When that baby is put on your breast, you're just overwhelmed with gratitude and the labor c - pains begin to be forgotten. And that's what Jesus wants us to learn. The signs of his coming. It's like birth pains in this fallen world. And the signs of the age will get more intense, more regular. And in the process, the closer they become to one another, finally his second coming occurs. And then all the agony of the birth pains of this world will be quickly forgotten as things will be made right at the second coming of Christ. So what we see in these passages is a statement of how the world is today. Not just America, but how the world is today. So let's look at the hope that is described here, verse 18.
"For 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. Now, some of you are going through a time of suffering. Some of you have gone through a time of intense suffering. Some of you have family and friends going through great suffering. Now listen very carefully. If you're a follower of Christ, those sufferings are temporal. Even if they last years, they are temporal. And they, there's really no way to compare that to the glory that is to come for the follower of Jesus Christ. Now, if you're not a follower of Christ or if you're not sure that if you die tonight, you would be in heaven with the Lord. This may not be true for you. Because if you're not a follower of Jesus Christ, sufferings are not temporal because when you die, you spend eternity in suffering in hell.
So it doesn't stop. There's no hope for you. But for those who are in Christ, and that can be any person here who chooses to trust Christ, there's the realization that any suffering we experience in this life is temporary and in no way can compare to the glory that is to come in the age to come. In heaven that is to come. And that's what God's word is speaking to us about today. I remember a few years ago when I was, uh, still pastoring at Johnson Fury and the Cobb County Prayer Breakfast asked me to have a, a special kind of speaking with Coach Mark Rick. He had the former coach at Georgia that was so beloved and such a fine Christian man. And he was speaking that year at the, the Cobb Prayer Breakfast. Huge crowd there. And he had recently, it had recently been announced that he had Parkinson's disease.
And so it was on everybody's mind. And even that day as we were having that interview with him on the stage there, were just sitting in a rocking chair because he couldn't stand for a long period of time. It was already setting in. And so I asked him about it. I said, Coach Rit, I know it's on all of our minds and our concern for you and hearing that you have Parkinson's. How are you dealing with that? And I'll never forget what he said.
He said, you know, I could have Parkinson's another 10, 20, 30 years, but what is that compared to eternity with Jesus Christ? What an incredible testimony. I, I was, uh, everybody just sat there in silence amazed at his faith. And that it was an opportunity in that prayer breakfast for us to share the gospel. Now, what is the gospel? The gospel is Christ died for our sins and Christ rose from the dead. That is the gospel. But the reason your pastor, Matt, the reason your staff here, the reason your Bible teachers here need to teach and explain the gospel is this. Christ died for our sin. Well, if you're not a believer, the question is, who is Christ? Who is Jesus? Well, he is the Son of God that left his throne in heaven and he came to earth to become one of his own creation, a man.
And he didn't come just to show us what God is like. He does that. He didn't come to show us how God wants us to live. He did that. But most of all, he came to give his life for us on the cross. Why? Because we're sinners. We all choose to do things our way rather than God's way. We all desire to be in con- control or in charge of our life versus trusting God to be in charge. We all sin. And it caused us to be separa- separated from God. But here is why Christ came. He came to ga - give his life on the cross, to shed his blood on the cross as a perfect sacrifice to pay the penalty for our sin. In other words, he came to pay the penalty we should be paying. And that is death in the judgment of God because of our sin.
So that when you and I acknowledge that we are sinners and we're desperately in need of a savior and we put our trust in Christ, the good news, the gospel is we are forgiven of all of our sin and we are made right with God. Not because we're good enough, but because Christ is good enough. Because Christ is perfectly righteous and we take on his righteousness and are made right with God. But it doesn't end there. Christ did not end on the cross. Christ rose from the dead to conquer sin and death so that you and I will have victory over death as well so that no matter what kind of suffering we're going through or will go through, it is all temporary knowing that we are gonna have victory over death and freedom from sickness and death in the future because of Christ. That is incredible good news.
And so this is what this passage is talking about. This is the ultimate hope that we have. Now that's verse 18. Let's skip down to verse 23.
And not only this, but also we ourselves having the first fruits of the spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves awaiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. Now, a little insight here. When you come to Christ, you not only receive forgiveness of sin, you not only receive salvation that saves you from death and hell, you not only receive the gift of eternal life and eternal relationship with God, but you also receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit begins to dwell in you and the Holy Spirit begins to give you a conviction and a desire to grow in your relationship with Christ and to submit to the word of God so that you can become more and more like Jesus and spirit and character. It is called the fruit of the spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control, all those gifts as described in Galatians chapter five verse 22 and 23.
And that fruit is perfectly exemplified in the life of Christ and more and more exemplified as we grow in our relationship with him after we have received Christ as our savior. But this verse said, "But still, we ourselves, those of us who are Christians, we groan. And we groan because of our own sin when we blow it. We groan because of the sins of others who disappoint us. We groan because of the fallenness and the brokenness and the sins of this world, whether it's our own suffering or it's a suffering of a loved one or violence that brings about incredible heartbreak and brokenness on this earth. We groan because things on earth, things in America, things in Cobb County are just not as we long for them to be because of the brokenness of mankind. But not only that, verse 23 tells us part of our hope though is the redemption of the body.
Now you know what this means? It means that one day in the rapture of the church and there's a lot of lively theological discussion about exactly when the rapture occurs before the second coming of Christ. I'll let your pastor Matt explain all those. But realize this, when Christ comes for his church before he comes in second coming in judgment on evil on this earth and establishing his kingdom on earth, at the rapture we receive a new resurrected body like Christ. One Corinthians 15:20 tells us that Christ's resurrected body is the first fruits of what believers are gonna experience receiving a resurrected body like Christ. That is a body that never gets sick and never It never gets dead. It's gonna be wonderful.
But here's what I hope. I hope it'll be a body like when you're in your 20s or 30s. You know, I, I ran to Peachtree again yesterday and now that I'm in my 70s, I, I mean, I'd be embarrassed to tell you my time. I mean, I've slowed down so much in running that race through the years. It's pitiful. I hope that resurrected body be like when we're our 20s and 30s. Just, just at our pe - we don't know. We, we don't know, but we know this. It'll be a body like Jesus resurrected body that never gets sick and never gets dead. Except Jesus' resurrected body will be the only one with scars in his hand and his side and his feet. There will always be a reminder for all of eternity to us of the love of God and giving his life for us so that we could have this eternal relationship with God Almighty.
The redemption of the body is one of the hopes that we have, but God's word goes on. Verse 24, "For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope for who hopes for what he already sees. But if we hope for what we do not see with perseverance, we await it eagerly." We hope that when we die because of salvation, we are spared from hell and the judgment of God and have that heavenly abobe with the Lord. When our physical bodies give out, we have hope that we will be in heaven. Our souls will be in heaven with a heavenly body. What that's like we don't fully understand. But then we know in the rapture of the church, we'll be given that resurrected body and then with Christ's second coming as he brings judgment on evil in this world and he begins to reign from the throne of David in Jerusalem.
We know that it lasts, at last here on earth, not just in the United States of America, but in all the earth. Things will be as we long for it to be and it will be glorious. I want you to get a picture. Keep your finger there at Romans eight and turn with me, if you will, to Isaiah chapter two. Isaiah two. If you're new to Bible study, just open your Bible to the middle. You might turn to Isaiah as the first of the great major prophets. But look at Isaiah chapter two. We're going to read verses two throug four. This gives us a picture of what it's going to be like. Now we'll come about verse two, chapter two. Now we'll come about in the last days. The mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains and will be raised above the hills and all the nations will stream to it.
That's speaking of Jerusalem. And many people will come and say, "Come. Let us go to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us concerning his ways." That's Jesus, the Messiah, the Lord. And that we may walk in his paths for the law will go forth from Zion, that is Israel. And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem where Christ will reign. And he will judge between the nations and will render decisions for many peoples. And listen to this. And they will hammer their swords into plowshears and their spears into pruning hooks. And nation will not lift up sword against nation and never again will they learn war.
Can you imagine? When you pray the Lord's prayer, thy will be done. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. A lot of times you recite that poor big ball game. But recognize what you're praying. You're praying for the second coming of Christ. Because when Christ comes again and he brings judgment on evil and he begins to reign from the throne of David in Jerusalem and brings peace on earth and brings a sense of harmony to mankind, justice and righteousness on earth, when all that occurs, the prayer is fulfilled.
Thy kingdom come, the kingdom of God. Thy will be done. The will of God. On earth at last as it is in heaven today, right now, July 5th, 2026. One day in the future when Christ comes again at last, what we're all longing for, the hope we have is that things on earth will be as they are in heaven today and it will be glorious. So go back to Romans eight at the end of our passage. With this hope, this ultimate hope, it says with perseverance, we await it eagerly. Folks, our calling now is to persevere in the faith. How? That is by trusting God enough to obey God through his word. In spite of what's going on in the world, in spite of the push of the crowd, we are willing to trust God when it's hard and obey the will and the word of God.
But not only that, perseverance focused on fulfilling the mission that Christ has given us. And that is to take the gospel, this good news that we have to every people group, to every nation, to every people group on the face of the earth. Burnt Hickory is already focused on this, but may we be focused more than ever before? Because we live with this ultimate hope in Christ and we've got a limited period of time to get the gospel to every people group on the face of the earth. Oh Lord, maybe it, may it be. This is how we persevere in the here and now because in Christ we have that ultimate hope individually for our nation and for all the world. It will be glorious.