I.. Introduction
    A. Review: Last lesson we learned that we can have victory in the crises of life by doing four things:
        1. Adopting God’s purpose for our lives: to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever.
        2. Adopting God’s perspective on our lives: to be willing to go through suffering to get to glory
        3. Adopting God’s priorities for our lives: to seek His kingdom first and let other things follow
        4. Adopting Christ’s perseverance as our own: to make a resolve to see our crises through to the end
    B. Today: Our victory lies in coming to realize we are in God’s waiting room and we must become patient there, for in
        God’s time all our crises will eventually be resolved.
    C. Waiting rooms are hard, especially doctor’s waiting rooms
        1. They are usually jammed with people, all waiting their turn
        2. If you listen carefully, you might hear a groan or two
        3. The clock on the wall ticks on, relentlessly
        4. You sit there, your stomach in knots, your mind playing all sorts of games with you
     D. God has a waiting room also and we’re all in it
II Five messages of hope to those in God’s waiting room: Rom 8:28-39 READ
    A. All things in a Christian’s life, no matter how bad, will eventually turn out for good.
        1. Rom 8:28  “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him….”
        2. “All things” (“sufferings” – v18): divorce, widowhood, strained relationships, failing bodies, insufficient finances, etc.
            a. BAD things to start with
            b. Filtered through perfection of Son
            c. Good eventually comes
        3. Who’s doing the working out? God, not us! (not our job)
        4. The working takes time (we have to wait)
        5. It’s a qualified promise: “for those called according to His purpose”
            a. It’s not for non-Christians (just the opposite is true)
            b. It’s for Christians
            c. It’s a message of hope.
     B. Any work God begins He finishes (He never leaves a job half done – Important to us!)
        1. Rom 8:29-30 “Those God foreknew He also predestined, those He predestined He also called, those He called
            He also justified, those He justified He also glorified.”
            a. Foreknew – set His affection upon them (not just knowing what they would do)
            b. Predestined – made special plans for them
            c. Called – began executing those plans by drawing them to Himself
            d. Justified – credited Christ’s righteousness to their account (legal term)
            e. Glorified – perfected them body and soul (past tense) It’s as good as done in God’s mind.
        2. Assurance: If God has started the least little thing, He will finish it
        3. Question: What is God finishing? (conforming us to His Son’s likeness -  purpose for the waiting room.)
            Could take us to heaven instant saved, but doesn’t.
            a. v29 (to conform us) – Perfecting Christ’s love, Christ’s peace, Christ’s holiness in us.
            b. Our assurance: someday, in heaven we’ll reach His perfection
            c. By starting sanctification process now, Christ will not have much more to do when we arrive in His presence
        4. A message of HOPE! We will be glorified!
    C. All charges brought against Christians will be dropped because of Christ’s rising to our defense (Christ, lawyer)
        1. Rom 8:33-34  “Who will bring any charges against those whom God has chosen? (NOBODY)
            “Who is he that condemns?” (NOBODY)
        2. Why no condemnation? (We know we’re sinners and deserve worst)
            a. On cross Christ suffered death penalty we deserve (He paid the price) Substitutionary atonement
            b. Those of us who have appropriated the benefits of Christ’s death to our own lives are set free from sin and its
                consequences  Rom 8:1  “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” NONE
        3.    Message of HOPE!
    D. The Christian will end up being not only a conqueror but MORE than a conqueror (quite a statement!)
        1. Rom 8:37  “In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”
            a. How do we become more than a conqueror? Accomplished through His supernatural power, not through
                our natural abilities – PHEW!
            b. What does this mean to be more than a conqueror?
                1) To conquer – to overcome (habits, fears, cancer) here and now
                2) To more than conquer? (one possibility: to be placed in an environment where you cannot succumb to sin, to
                    fears, to disease: HEAVEN!)
        2. Question: Have to die to become “more than conqueror”?
            a. Don’t think so: Submission to sovereign God (anything, time, way, purpose) makes us invincible in a sense
            (still bothered by circumstances but at peace inside soul) Die to self and personal plans and living with eternity in view.
                1) Job (lost health, wealth, status)  “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him”  13:5 – in middle of crisis!
                    More than conquerors.
                2) Paul (suffered shipwreck, floggings, stonings, muggings, sleep deprivation, hunger, thirst, imprisonment)
                    “What happened to me will turn out for my deliverance (one way or another)…Christ will be exalted in my body
                     whether by life OR by death…For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil 1:19-21) MORE THAN
                    CONQUEROR!
                3) Question: How get that kind of faith?
            b. Answer: Ps 18:30  Trust “His way is perfect” (even when it looks anything but) and submit to that way.
                We die to our own plans in the here and now.
          3. A message of HOPE!
    E. Nothing can separate the Christian from the love of God: NOTHING!
        1. Rom 8:35:  “Who shall separate us from the love of God?”
        2. Rom 8:38,39:  “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the
            future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the
            love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (every possibility eliminated)
        3. Conclusion: the Christian is protected totally, now and forever
        4. A message of HOPE!
III We want to give an overview of God’s plan to restore a hurting world (understanding it will help us to wait more “patiently”) v25: We will look at the rift of sin, redemption, restoration (future)
    A. Rift of sin  EG Vance Havner:  “I used to say civilization was going to the dogs, but I’ve stopped saying that out of respect for the dogs." (not always so)
        1. Garden of Eden (perfection):Gen 1:31 “God saw all that He had made and it was very good”(certain order to creation)
            a. Natural world (first) – skies, seas, land, creatures – GOOD!
            b. Human body (next) – by hand of God “from the dust of the ground” Gen 2:7; “fearfully and wonderfully made”
                Ps 139:14
            c. Human spirit (last) – God’s spirit breathed into man’ body “and man became a living being” Gen 2:7 GOOD!
               d. All created “good”
       2.    But then sin entered – devastation began
               a. Everybody scrambling to shift responsibility
EG  Man blamed woman    Woman blamed serpent    Serpent didn’t have a leg to stand on
              b. With sin came a curse (on everything that had been made)
                 1) What curse on natural world? (thorns and turmoil) Gen 3:17 “Cursed is the ground because of you: through
                        painful toil you will eat of it; it will produce thorns and thistles for you.” (evidence in rosebush, floods,
                        earthquakes, tornadoes, fire, volcanoes, weeds)
                 2) What curse on human body?(aging –death) Gen 3:19 God to Adam: “Dust you are and to dust you will return”
            a. Look in mirror? See wrinkles?
            b. Thank ADAM
                3) What curse on human spirit  Gen 3:24: (separation from God)  “he drove the man out”  “They hid”  Gen 3:18
                    a) No more sweet fellowship with God in the cool of the day
                    b) The emptiness we feel in our souls is due to the RIFT of sin
    B. Redemption in Christ: GOOD NEWS !
        1. Redemption: payment for something
        2. Question: what was paid for on cross? More than what we usually hear about.
            a. Our spirits certainly – the subject of evangelistic sermons; get saved, get ‘born-again’
            b. But MORE: EVERYTHING that was under curse was redeemed: human spirit, human body, natural world.Col
                1:19,20  “God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him (Christ) and through Him (Christ) to reconcile to
                Himself all things.” (how many? ALL)
        3. Question: How did Christ accomplish this reconciliation?
            a. By taking various curses upon Himself
            b. Gal 3:13  By actually “becoming a curse” for us
            c. By becoming A curse He conquered THE curse! (And we are the beneficiaries!)
        4. Death on tree – a curse in itself; Deut 21:23  “Anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse”
            a. What was the curse on the spirit? How did Christ bear God’s curse on human spirit? By being separated from
                Father while on that tree.  Mt 27:46  “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?”
            b. What was the curse on the human body? How did Christ bear God’s curse on human body? By dying a physical
                death on that tree.  Col 1:22  “But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present
                you holy in his sight.”
            c. What was the curse on nature? How did Christ bear God’s curse on nature?  By wearing a crown of thorns.
                Mt 27:29, earthquakes 27:51, darkness 27:45
        5. On cross: payment for sin and its consequences made IN FULL
        6. Question: from granddaughter: “If sin was paid for in full, why is there still sin and its consequences (aging, sickness,
            death)?
            a. Difference between payment for goods and receipt of goods
            b. EG  Suppose you saved enough money to furnish room in new home, go to furniture store, make 3 selections
                (chair, couch, rug) give clerk money, marks bill “PAID IN FULL”
                1) “Arm chair – take home today in van”
                2) “Sofa – delivered in about a week (wait)”
                3) “Rug – will take a month (wait longer) Okay?”  OKAY
        7. So it is with redemption  (there’s an order to receiving its effects)
            (If we understand that, we become more “patient” in God’s waiting room  Rom 8:25)
V Now, let’s get into the 3rd segment: Restoration
    A. Difference between redemption and restoration (a difference the Bible doesn’t always make in its wording)
        1. Redemption: price paid for the goods
        2. Restoration: goods received (delivery)
    B. Order in which goods received opposite of order in which created (God restores inside out)
        1. Human spirit reconciled first – When? (at “rebirth”) Rom 8:9,10  “If Christ is in you, your body is (still) dead because
            of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness” (present tense – no question about what “is” means  :>)
            a. Fellowship with God restored the minute we receive Christ
            b. But tension remains because we have restored spirits in unrestored bodies
            c. Our bodies still waiting (makes YEARN for their perfection)
        2. Human body restored second – 1Cor 15:32  “The dead will be raised imperishable” WHEN? “at the resurrection of
            the body” -  associated with Second Coming.
            a. Rom 8:11  “And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the
                dead will also give life to your mortal bodies.” (future tense)
            b. In other words, some day WE, like Christ, will experience
                1) Bodily resurrection (no disembodied Caspers rising out of graves but bodies of flesh and bones)
                2) A bodily existence in heaven (bodies perfected, glorified, immortal)
                3) Those in heaven now, waiting for bodies (“absent from body”, “longing to be clothed”) 2Cor 5:8,2  but not
                    without HOPE!
                4) So we on earth are not the only ones in God’s waiting room
        3. Natural world renewed last
            a. In God’s waiting room longest, Rom 8:19  “The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be
                revealed” (for Christians to get their glorified bodies – a spectacular sight)
            b. Time of fulfillment – at creation of “new heaven and new earth”  2 Pet 3:13
            c. Right now the natural world continues to live with only the promise  Rom 8:21  “The creation itself will be delivered
               from its bondage to decay.” (quite a promise!)
    C. God’s plan of redemption includes more than you and me.
    D. Show chart
        1. Redemption (Christ’s act of buying back His own possessions with His own blood)  1Pet 1:18,19
        2. Redemption’s timetable (being in God’s waiting room)

         Redemption needed                        Redemption accomplished                           Redemption applied
     When? In the garden                                When? On the cross.                            When? At different times
       Gen 2:17 – 3:19                                   Col 1:19,20 “to reconcile                    Acts 3:21  Christ waiting “until
      “You will surely die”                                 to himself all things”                       the time comes to restore everything”

     1.  Spirit cursed. Gen 3:8                      1.  Curse on Spirit. borne                       1.   Spirit restored at New Birth.
       “they hid” – separation                           Mk 15:34 “My God, why                      Eph 2:13  “You who were
       from God; Gen 3:24                               have You forsaken me?”                       far away have been
        “drove them out”                                            brought near.”
     Col.1:21,22 “alienated &                       reconciled”
                                                                                                                                            Rom 8:10 “Spirit is alive”
 

                     2.  Body cursed. Gen 3:19           2.  Curse on body borne                       2.   Body restored at Resurrection.
                          “From dust to dust” -                     Col 1:22 We are “reconciled                  1Cor 15:22 “So in Christ, all
                            aging and death                          by Christ’s physical body                       will be made alive.”
                                                                                through death”                                       Rom 8:11 “He will give life to
                                                                                                                                                  your mortal bodies.”
            3.  Nature cursed. Gen 3:17-19    3.  Curse on nature borne                     3.    Nature restored at Creation of
                          turmoil and “thorns”                       Jn 19:2 “crown of thorns”                       New Heavens and New Earth
                                                                                Mt 27:45 “darkness”                                                                Isa 65:17
                       Mr 27:51 “earthquake”                           Isa 55:13  “Instead of thorn-
                                                                                                                                                bush will grow the pine tree.”
                                                                                                                                                Rom 8:19-22 “creation waits”
 

VI In God’s waiting room: everything experiences FRUSTRATION – but just for a while
 A.    If you listen carefully, you may hear groans:
        1. Natural world groaning,  Rom 8:22  “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.”
                a. Can you hear the groaning of the earth as it expands and contracts, producing earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, fires?
       b. Its labor pains intensifying: sign birth of new world near
         2. Human bodies groaning, Rom 8:23  “Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit (spirits restored to fellowship), groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” (restoration)
                a. Can you hear the groans of aches and pains, aging and disease in the room right now?
        b.   Earth can be a noisy waiting room
       3.    Holy Spirit groaning (lovingly identifies with our predicament)
    Rom 8:26  “In the same way the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We  do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.”
       a.   You won’t hear Him; His groans are inexpressible
       b.   But He’s uttering when we can’t (that’s how much He cares)
1) When we don’t know how to pray (“take him home, Lord” or “heal him please”)
2) He prays for us
3) His prayer is right on target v.27  “The Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.”
 B.  That brings us hope
VII  Conclusion
A. Come back with me to our earthly waiting room
1. We’re still sitting there, watching, listening, praying
2. Then something unexpected happens: the Great Physician himself appears
3. We suddenly realize
a. The waiting is over
   b. The future is now
   c. The promises have been fulfilled
   d. Victory is ours
B. It’s all because of Jesus, the Christ, who loved us enough to die for us.
C. Hallelujah!