The Gain of Glory
Romans 8:17‑18
Romans, chapter 8 ... we embark upon a new section of the eighth chapter and one that will take us a while to work our way through. We'll do the best we can to get started and cover as much as we can in the next couple of weeks, and then I'll be gone for a couple and then come back and we'll pick it up where we left it off, but we're going to see all the things that are here that the Spirit of God will want to teach us.
We're looking at Romans chapter 8 and we left off last time in our study at verse 16, so we're going to begin looking at the section that runs from verse 17 through 30. And that is one section, as you'll see as we get on to our study tonight.
Every Christian lives really in the light of glory, the hope of glory to come. Several of the songs that we sung already tonight that were sung to us, speak of the hope that we have, the forever life that we enter into in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ someday when we go to be with Him in H is glory. I suppose our hope can best be summed up in the words of I John 3:2, that we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is. The psalmist said that he would never be satisfied until the time when he awoke in the likeness of the Lord. And our great hope is heaven, the presence of God, the likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the hope of glory is the theme of this particular part of Romans chapter 8, and it is a rich, rich passage. In fact, it's beyond our ability to understand, it's beyond our ability even to imagine all the things that are inherent in the great teaching of this particular section.
Now I want to back up for just a moment so that I can give you a little bit of a feeling for what's going on here as we approach verse 17. The purpose of the entire eighth chapter is to elucidate a statement made in verse 1 and that statement is very familiar to Bible students, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus." There is no condemnation; no judgment will ever be meted out as a penalty for the sins of those who are in Christ Jesus. We have no condemnation status with God.
Now that's a great statement about the security of our salvation. If we are never to be condemned, then that is to say we are secure. That's a great statement about what some theologians calls the "safety" of the believer, the safety of the believer. It is a statement of profound assurance of salvation. We are in no condemnation status before God.
And it comes, I think, at a very remarkable and very important point in Paul's letter because he has just discussed in chapter 7 the fact that believers are going to sin, right? He's just discussed that, that the things he wants to do he can't do, the things he doesn't want to do he does. And he says of himself, and you see it there in verse 24, "0 wretched man that I am." There's a wretchedness. Verse 25, "I myself serve the law of God but with the flesh the law of sin." So, chapter 7 Is a statement about the believer's sinfulness. But in spite of that, chapter 8 affirms, "There is therefore no condemnation," and the "therefore" means that's it's connected to chapter 7. Even with the truth of chapter 7, that as long as we're in this flesh, as long as we're in this human body, we're going to struggle with sin and we're going to fail to do what God wants, there will still never be any condemnation. That's a great word of affirmations...a great word of assurance. And it is so monumental a testimony, it is so remarkable a statement, it is so hard to believe that we who continue to be sinful, who continue to do the things we ought not to do and not to do the things we ought to do, that we will never be condemned is so remarkable a statement that he goes on throughout the eighth chapter to explain how that can be true. And basically what he says is that it is true because of the unique ministry of the Spirit of God, He confirms to us what is given us in Christ.
I guess a better way to say it; we experience the truthfulness of it by the ministry of the Holy Spirit. It is a fact. It is an accomplished fact based upon the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that work is defined for us from chapter 3 right on through the end of chapter 7. It is the work of Jesus Christ that purchased for us a no‑condemnation status which is so hard for us to believe that the Holy Spirit must be in an ongoing affirmation ministry to convince us that it indeed is true. And so, chapter 8 is the Holy Spirit's chapter and it's all about how the Holy Spirit confirms the no‑condemnation status of the believer and it ends with a glorious paean of praise, a glorious benediction that concludes with the fact that nothing shall ever be able to separate us from the love of G od which is ours in Christ Jesus our Lord. The assurance of which is borne to our hearts by the ongoing ministry of the Holy Spirit.
And we've been going through the chapter and seeing how the Holy Spirit confirms our no‑condemnation status, how He confirms our security, how he confirms our safety. First of all, we saw in verses 2 and 3 that He does so by freeing us from sin and death. Secondly, in verse 4, by enabling us to fulfill the law. Thirdly, in verses 5 to 11, by changing our nature. Fourthly, in verses 12 and 13, by empowering us for victory over the deeds of the body, or sin. Fifthly, and we saw this last time, He affirms to us our no‑condemnation status in spite of our sin by confirming our adoption. We are the sons of God and the Spirit bears witness with our spirit.
Now finally, and really climatically, this is the coup‑de‑grace, if you will, of the chapter. The Holy Spirit confirms our no‑condemnation status by guarantying our glory, by guarantying our glory. First, by freeing us from sin and death, then by enabling us to fulfill the law, then by changing our nature, then by empowering us for victory, confirming our adoption and finally, by guarantying our glory, verses 17 through verse 30. And then after verse 30 comes the great benediction of praise that concludes the chapter and blesses the name of God and affirms our safety and security because of who He is and what He's accomplished in Christ.
So, the freedom we enjoy from sin's dominion, the ability to do what is truly right, the desire to mind the things of the Spirit, the power to overcome the deeds of the body, the sense of belonging to God that makes us feel intimate and cry, "Abba, Father," all of these are confirmations given us by the work of the Holy Spirit and they are to assure our hearts of the truth of verse 1: "There is therefore now no condemnation ... 11 It is a great, great chapter on the security of the believer. And we went into that in detail in chapter 5. And chapter 5, basically, talks about the security of the believer from the theological viewpoint, from the facts. This chapter talks about the security of the believer, if you will, from the feelings, from the confirming of the Spirit of God in our hearts. And then it concludes with a reiteration of the glorious facts and truths that we are secure in Christ.
So, the theme then of the section we're looking at, verses 17 to 30, is that the Spirit guarantees our glory, and this is both something that He places within our hearts in confidence and a fact as well. And that's why it's a little bit hard to make a clean distinction between the two in all of the Spirit's confirmation to our minds and our hearts which we feel. In other words, we feel secure; there is a fact as well which brings that reality or that feeling about. So we don't want to make too clear a distinction.
But the Spirit of God here is ministering to the believer from within the believer, affirming and confirming the security of his no‑condemnation status. And so, the Spirit comes to us to guaranty our future glory. And He does it not only by the feeling but by a reiteration in the Word of God of fact. For example, look at verse 30, and that would be sort of a key verse, although it's the final verse of the section it really is the summation of the whole section. "Moreover," it says, "whom He did predestinate," that is whom the Lord did choose to redeem or save, "them He also called, and whom He called them He also justified, or saved, and whom He justified them He also glorified."
Now there is no loss between justification and glorification. Whoever is justified, that is made right with God through Jesus Christ, will be glorified. That is precisely what our Lord Jesus meant in John 6 when He said, "All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me and I have lost none of them...none of them." And so, where there is justification there's glorification.
And may I give you what I think is a very important theological truth? There is no salvation without glorification. You cannot invent a salvation that doesn't end in glorification. Because one of the tenses of salvation is future. And it is not salvation unless it embraces the future. Which is to say the idea that you can have a salvation and lose it and forfeit glorification cannot be so. Because inherent in the very truth of salvation is that it is a future reality, it is a guaranty of glory. You see verse 29? "We have been predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son." Before you were saved, God planned to save you. And in saving you to bring you into conformity to His Son Jesus Christ. That's the same as glorification. So there cannot be the fulfilling of a saving purpose unless in that fulfilling there is glorification. You understand that? So glorification is the completion of the reality of salvation.
This then is the goal of our salvation. This is the climax of our salvation. This is the end of our salvation. We are saved unto eternal glory. And that is a truth given to us in Scripture over and over as we shall see going through this section. But it is also the special ministry of the Spirit of God to affirm and confirm that to our hearts. And I believe He does it by placing in our hearts the hope that is indicated in verse 24. We are saved in hope. You see, the Spirit in us fills our hearts with hope and that hope is an affirmation of the reality of ultimate glory.
Looking back for a moment, as you see man in his original creation, you know that man was created in the image of God. He was created in His likeness. And therefore he had glory. Man was glorious. Man was able to be honored and respected. Man was without sin. He radiated the essence of God's person. And he had glory. But when man fell, he lost the original glory. He lost the original dignity and honor and respect. H e lost the beauty that was his in creation. And that's why Romans 3:23 says man has come short of ... what?...the glory of God. He lost that.
And I believe people born into the world basically know their devoid of glory. That's why there's such a stampede for self‑esteem. That's why there's such a tremendous effort on the part of human kind to find self-satisfaction, to get respect. As Rodney Dangerfield puts it, "I don't get no respect." And I think innately in the heart of man there is that longing to be respected, to be somebody, to be esteemed, to get back the glory that man somehow feels is missing. And in the quest for that he fills himself with ambition and pride and jealousy and envy, trying to rise above others, and never is he able to really gain back the glory. Man after the Fall cannot know pre‑Fall glory. But in Christ the glory is restored. And someday those that are saved are going to be taken to the place where they will fully reflect the glory of God; they will be found again in His image and likeness, where they will be like Jesus Christ only it won't be taking us back to Eden, it will be taking us beyond Eden. For perfection is better than innocence. And so there will be a radiant glory that even exceeds that which Adam and Eve knew before they fell.
Martyn Lloyd‑Jones, that great British preacher, was right when he said, "Salvation cannot stop at any point short of entire perfection or it is not salvation." That's a very important thing to understand, that's very theological. There is no salvation that is short of perfection.
So man in Christ is reserved unto glory. That's why this chapter closes saying nothing shall separate us from the love of Christ. Nothing shall condemn us, it says earlier. No one will lay any charge to God's elect. Whoever He justifies He glorifies. There's no such thing as a salvation without glorification ... no such thing. So man in Christ is reserved for glory and it is a glory beyond Adam, it is a glory equal to Christ.
We're already on the way, you know. Have you read 2 Corinthians 3:18 lately? Listen to what it says. "But we all," that is those of us who are in Christ, "with an unveiled face, no veil, nothing to blind us or hinder our vision, behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord." As we look at the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same, literally being changed, into the same image from glory to glory, from one level of glory to the next level of glory and it says, "By the Spirit of the Lord." You see, the ministry of the Spirit of the Lord while we're here is to take us from one level of glory to the next level of glory to the next level of glory, He lifts us up in terms of restoring man's dignity, of giving back his genuine respect, of giving back the honor that he lost in the Fall and little by little as we gaze at the glory of the Lord, the Spirit of God works in our life to give us more glory and more and more until finally someday when we see Jesus Christ, we will reflect His full glory. So, we're on the path to glory, folks. And that's what salvation is. It is the path to glory. And once you begin, you must come to the end because the essence of salvation is that it brings us to glory...to the image of Christ.
Now, as we look at the verses, verses 17 through 30, there are three great features that I want you to see. And we'll just give you the three and we'll work our way through them in the weeks that it takes. And I don't want to hurry because I think this is so very important. At the same time, I don't want to drag things, so we'll move along as best we can.
Three things to note: the incomparable gain of glory, the inexpressible groans of glory and the infallible guarantee of glory...the incomparable gains of glory, the inexpressible groans of glory and the infallible guarantee of glory.
Now for tonight, let's look at the incomparable gain of glory, verses 17 and 18. Verse 17 says, "And if children then heirs, heirs of God and joint‑heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with Him that we may be also glorified together, for I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."
Now the whole theme of glory is introduced to us by linking it up with the prior passage dealing with our sonship, our adoption. You'll remember that it told us in verses 14, 15 and 16 that we had become the children of God by adoption and we knew that we were the children of God because verse 14 says we are led by the Spirit of God, verse 15 says we are given by the Spirit of God the intimacy that allows us to cry, Abba, Father. We are freed from bondage. We don't fear God anymore. We rush in to His presence having the sense that we're His children and we're welcome. And then verse 16, the Spirit confirms our sonship by bearing testimony along with our spirit that we are the children of God, that's a subjective ministry of confirmation in our own hearts. And the essence of 14 to 16 is simply to say we're children of God. You see, we're secure because we belong to God. We're His children and He doesn't turn on His own children. He brings His own children to full maturity. In fact, He brings them to glory. And that's where verse 17 moves in. The Spirit of adoption, the Holy Spirit, leads His children to glory, brings them all the way to the fulfilling of the plan.
And so, 14 to 16 affirms that we are the children of God. And then we pick up verse 17, "And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint‑heirs with Christ." Now if we are the children of God, it says, and by the way, I want you to understand what the word "if" means. It's not a doubt. Not at all. It's the word ei, it's e‑i in Greek. And it introduces what is called a fulfilled condition. And the best way to translate it is "since." Since ... since children, since we are children, and that's just been proven in verses 14 to 16, since we are children we are also heirs. And we know we're children, Galatians 3:26 says, "For ye are all the sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus." If you put your faith in Christ Jesus, listen, you are a son of God. And if you are a son of God, then you are an heir. Then you will receive the inheritance. You see, again there's no gap. If you're a son, you're an heir, if you're an heir; you're going to receive what is promised to the heirs of God, the joint‑heirs with Christ. Wonderful to realize that. Since we are children, we are also heirs.
So, as we talk about the incomparable gain of glory, let's first of all talk about the heirs. Who are these people that receive glory? Well, they're the children of God. Galatians 3:26, "The children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." We have become heirs to God's merciful gifts. In Hebrews 1:14, just draw one verse to your attention for a moment that win help you to understand this, in talking about the angels in chapter 1 of Hebrews, he closes that section by saying this, "Are they not all ministering spirits?" Angels, basically, are servants. "Sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation." And that's a great title for Christians. They are heirs of salvation; they are the ones who have been given the promise. In James 2:5, "Hearken my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom?" We are those who are the heirs by faith in Christ. And Colossians 1:12, "Giving thanks unto the Father who has made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance."
So, when you were saved you were made an heir and God never disinherits anybody. He's always faithful. Philippians 1:6 says, "He that begun a good work in you will ... what?...perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." And it begins by saying, "Being confident of this very thing." And so there is a confidence that if you have been saved, you've been saved unto glory. If you are a child of God and you cry in your heart, "Abba, Father," and you sense the leading of the Spirit, and you sense the confirmation of the Spirit witnessing in your spirit that you belong to God, then you can be confident also that by that testimony of the Holy Spirit that you're a child, if you're a child you're also what? An heir. That's a wonderful thing.
Now remember that Paul here in writing to the church at Rome is picking up some of the Roman custom, and Roman tradition. And of course, as we saw last time, their tradition was that when an adopted child was brought into a family, that adopted child was in no way inferior to any other child. In fact, in some cases was actually superior to the rest by the choice of the father who adopted them. But I want you to make a little distinction in your mind and it's helpful if you can understand the background. In the Jewish culture, who really received the inheritance in the family? The first born. And Jewish custom and tradition was to give a double portion of everything to the first born. That was not the case in the Roman tradition, in the Roman custom. In the Roman custom, all...all of them were given equal parts, all of them were given equal parts, all were equal inheritors, even the adopted children. And Paul in writing to the Romans is using the Roman form of passing on the inheritance as his analogy. So when he says here we're all heirs, heirs of God and joint‑heirs with Christ, it's a statement of equality that affirms that we'll all equally inherit. And Roman law, also, we learned that what you received by inheritance was more surely yours than the things you possessed by purchase. Nothing was as securely yours as that which you inherited. And so Paul uses the Roman idea to confirm the equal heirship as well as the security of that inheritance for the analogy of the security of our no condemnation status.
And if God according to John 1:12 has given you the authority to be His son, there's no indication in Scripture ever that He disinherits one who is His own. And so, the text simply says since children then heirs ... there's no loss ... there's no loss.
Look with me for a moment...I commented earlier on Galatians 3:26, 1 want to draw you to two verses in Galatians that I think are very important to our understanding. Galatians 3:29, and we're going to study some great things so stay with me and hang in there in your thinking. In Galatians 3:29, "If ye be Christ's," if you belong to Christ, "then are you Abraham's seed." In other words, then you really are the fruit of faith, Abraham is the model of faith, Abraham is the example of faith, he's the pattern of faith and everyone who comes after him who believes God is said to be, in a sense, a child of Abraham by faith. He's the father of the faithful, Paul calls him. "So, if you're Christ's then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." And again, it's the same idea. If you are Christ's and if you are a child that manifests the same faith that characterized Abraham, then you are an heir.
Chapter 4 of Galatians verse 7, "Wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ." And again it affirms the same thing. Great statements of finality. Great statements of security.
And so, we meet the heirs who will receive the incomparable gain of glory. Who are they? They are the children. The children who in their hearts are confirmed as those who belong to God by the ministry of the Holy Spirit, who are able to cry, "Abba" because they sense an intimacy with God through the access provided them by Jesus Christ. They are the children who are led by the Spirit.
Now, after we've seen the inheritors, or the heirs, let's look secondly at the source. Again, back to verse 17, "Heirs of God..." and the indication of that statement is that God is the source of our inheritance. It is God who gives us the inheritance. God is the one who laid it up for us. God is the one who passes it on to us. We inherit directly from Him.
In Colossians 3:24, it says: "Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance." Of the Lord you will receive it. It is God's to give. And He gives it at His own sovereign discretion to those who are His children.
There's a similar indication to this one and I think it's so beautiful ... in Matthew 25:34, at the judgment of the sheep and goats, as it's commonly said, in verse 34, "Then shall the King say to them on His right hand, Come ye blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Oh, what a thought! We inherit from God something prepared for us from before the foundation of the world. God is the source and God planned us into that inheritance before the world began. From everlasting to everlasting, I change not, He says. And if we have been planned in as His inheritors, He will dispense to us the inheritance. And the excellence, you see, of the inheritance depends upon the one who gives it, right? I mean, some of us are heirs of people who haven't got anything to give. But to be an heir of God is to inherit every thing...every‑thing ... everything that He possesses will be ours, heirs of God. It's an incomprehensible thought.
There's a kind of beautiful thought in the midst of this and just to...I give it to you for your meditation. In Psalm 73, verse 25, the psalmist says this: "Whom have I in heaven but Thee and there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee." Another occasion he said, "My heart pants after Thee as a deer pants after the water brook." In Lamentations 3:24, I think it's 24, yes, "The Lord is my portion."
Now those verses kind of indicate to us that the thing we would most want to inherit in the midst of all that God possesses is that we would want to inherit God Himself, right? We would want the Lord to be our portion. And I think that's exactly what the Scripture is saying. In the midst of all the things in all the universe that we could possess, the best thing is to possess God Himself. In Revelation 21:3 it says when we get to the new Jerusalem, the glorious eternal city, behold the tabernacle of God is with men and He will dwell with them and they shall be His people and God Himself shall be with them and be their God.
The best part of the inheritance is to inherit God Himself. Oh what a thought...what a thought. So, the heirs‑‑those who are sons. The source the God of the universe. What about the extent? The extent of the incomparable gain of glory? Verse 17 says, "We are joint‑heirs with Christ." In other words, we will receive an inheritance to the same extent that Jesus Christ will receive. That's the extent of our inheritance. Someday when we get to heaven we're going to get everything that God has promised to give Jesus Christ. What a thought ... staggering. I mean, it's staggering. Because everything is going to be brought into subjection to Him, everything. Look at Ephesians 1, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ." How many spiritual blessings? All of them. And then he goes through them and talks about them and says in verse 11, "We have an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who works all things after the counsel of His own will." What an inheritance. Verse 10 says that He will gather together in one, all things in Christ which are in heaven, on earth, even in Him." Everything ultimately resolves in Christ and we inherit all of it. I mean, there won't be anything that doesn't belong to us. It's incredible.
Jesus describes Himself as the heir of all things, Hebrews 1:2, you know that passage. Do you remember it?