This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Misc. Romans sermons” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, December 29, 1991.

Listen to the word of God. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, in order that we may also be glorified with him.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed in us. 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 of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation roams and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. Not only this, but also we ourselves having the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves grown 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 why does one also hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it. And in the same way, the Spirit also helps our weakness.

For we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. For we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.

For whom he did foreknow, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. and whom he predestined, these he also called, and whom he called, these he also justified, and whom he justified, these he also glorified.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things? who will bring a charge against God’s elect. God is the one who justifies, who is the one who condemns. Christ Jesus is he who died, yes, rather, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword, just as it is written, For thy sake we are being put to death all day long. We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us.

For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We are living in the Protestant dark ages. By this I mean that what originally came to expression in the Protestant Reformation has been compromised and in some ways eclipsed. And it’s not as if those in the Reformed Church, those who are Calvinists, are immune to the conditions of the time. I would dare say that there are evidences that even the Reformed Church Calvinists have come under a cloud. One of those evidences is the fact that for at least 150 years now, the Reformed Church has been suffering from a collapse, an internal collapse, with respect to the theology that was once held to be the standard by which the Church would in fact conduct Originally, with the Reformation, well into the seventeenth century, we had the Reformed Church holding devotedly to what has been called the fourfold estate of man. is understood along these lines.

We look at man in his innocence, that is, as created, that being the first estate. The second estate is that which comes about through the fall. The third estate is that which comes through Jesus Christ and the redemption that is found in and through him. The fourth estate is the estate of glory. The Reformed Church contended that it was that fourth estate to which God’s purposes always tended, even from the beginning, even from the state of innocence. that the purpose of God was focused upon that fourth estate even when man was in an estate of innocence.

So that even though man found himself in the garden, in righteousness, possessing knowledge and holiness, he hadn’t as yet arrived at the final estate. There was something higher intended for him. Now, we can go so far as to say that it is particularly this insight that gave the edge to Reformed theology, and a particular distinctive to its theological formulations. Adam, in his innocence, had not as yet arrived. He was destined for something higher.

So a theology that says that the objective is merely to get man back to the garden is not Reformed or Calvinistic in its basic formulation. But what has happened? Over the last 150 years in the Reformed Church, in the Calvinistic world, the fourfold estate of man, the doctrine of the fourfold estate of man has collapsed. Instead of four, we now have three, and the scheme is presented to us along these lines.

Creation, fall, redemption. Three and only three. Creation, fall, redemption. But as redemption is expounded by Reformed and Calvinist thinkers, functionally, practically, what it works out to be is merely a restoration of the original creation order within the fabric and frame of the creation. We never do get beyond it. So glory, in effect, is lost. Calvinists don’t much talk about heaven, even though their hymn book, the Trinity hymn book, is full of it.

This whole perspective, then, has had an effect upon the reading of classic texts that have been dear to the heart of Calvinists. The classic text, Romans 8. Now, we who are Calvinists have grown up on that text. This is the text we always crack out when we get into arguments. We get into debates with evangelicals and with Arminians. This is the text that proves our point. This text is a motto for us. It is a logo. We might even embroider it, hang it on the wall. It’s a sign over our door. It might even be on a flag that we unfurl set up somewhere. For we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love him, to those who are the called according to his purpose.

Marvelous text. But now as things have worked themselves out, in keeping with what has happened in the last 150 years within the reformed world, This text has been subjected to a flat and glib reading. It is as if glory, or the fourth estate of man, cannot anymore be perceived within these words. Instead, we read the text as if it were a guarantee of worldly blessedness and security beneath God’s sovereignty and providential hand.

And because we’ve mentioned sovereignty and because we have spoken about God’s providential hand, we feel satisfied that we are within the boundaries of our Calvinist and Reformed heritage. We’ve used magic language. In focusing upon the good that is spoken of here in this twenty-eighth verse of Romans 8, we understand that good along the lines of those things within this creation which can be a benefit for us. We develop this verse along the lines of a personal, unshakable confidence that good things will happen to us. We have here a prototypical prosperity gospel.

And subjecting this whole thing to something of a sinister twist, or giving it something of a sinister spin, we conclude on the basis of this text that the good life belongs to us by right, since after all, we belong to God. The truth is that Such an approach to this text not only obscures its deep, its profound meaning, but sends us off in the wrong direction, as far as understanding it at all.

As is true with all bad ideas, you find some good. And the good of this particular approach is that at least it identifies the center of the text. And the center of the text is the notion of good that the apostle introduces his readers, his hearers, to. And specifically, the fact that the good that he mentions is related to a specific goal. That is recognized. So the good and a goal, or the goal, go together. In fact, the good is the goal. to which all things in God’s economy now conspire. The good is the goal to which all things in God’s economy conspire.

But what about this goal? Will we understand this goal purely in terms of earthly benefits and the prosperity within this creation? Here the Apostle adds, as you read through the latter verses of this chapter, verses 29 through 39, does it sound there as if the people of God are in for a fine and prosperous and grand trip? Does it sound as if they’re in for a journey down prosperity lane? The goal, you see, is understood by the Apostle in keeping with what we find in verse 29, namely, a conformity to the image of God’s Son. That’s the goal, conformity to the image of God’s Son.

We run through that thirtieth verse and the chain, the various links of it. Whom he predestined, them he also called. Whom he called, them he also justified. And whom he justified, these he also glorified. The end, the goal, that the apostle has in mind is the glorification of which he speaks in that thirtieth verse. And that glory, or that glorification, is the explication of the good that he’s mentioned in verse twenty-eight. We go on in verse thirty-two, and we read there also. of the goal, expressive of the good.

At the end of that verse, “…how will he not also with him that is with Christ freely give us all things?” The goal to which we press is the possession of all things, and that I have not abstracted from the good that is mentioned in verse twenty-eight. expounded as it is in terms of conformity to the image of God’s Son and the glory that is in view in verse 30. And this goal is also further spoken of in terms of the full benefit that is ours because of the unbreakable bond that we have with God Himself. Who shall separate us from the love of God? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ, verse thirty-five, and the confident expression that the apostle gives to the resolution of this whole matter when he declares that he is convinced that there is nothing, no, no created thing that can separate us from the love of God, which is found in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The good expounded by the goal. and that goal then variously explained to us in the concluding verses of this eighth chapter. We are suggesting, then, that the good that is actually the goal for us and the object of God’s working on our behalf in verse twenty-eight is that glory, is that future manifestation of the magnificence of our God, to which now we have become, of which now we have become partakers through the mercies of our God in the salvation which has been effected for us in Christ.

And if there is any question about this, all we need to do is back up to the previous verses, verses 18 through 25, where the good and the gold are spoken of in further detail. In verse 19, this gold is spoken of as the revelation of the sons of God. In verse twenty-one, it is spoken of as the freedom of the glory of the sons of God. In verse twenty-three, it is spoken of as our adoption as sons, that is, the full redemption of our bodies.

The goal to which we press is not an earthly prosperity. The goal to which we press is that which is imbued in the fourth estate of man, that which is reserved for us in heaven by root of the resurrection. the full redemption of our bodies. But it is also described for us in verse 18, it is the glory that is to be revealed in us. And what is that glory which is to be revealed in us? Specifically, that which has been mentioned to us in verse seventeen, the fact that we are children, and as children we are heirs. We are heirs of God.

What is it, then, that shall be revealed in us? What is this glory? It is our possession of God, nothing less than that. the Reformed world has lost sight of? For the sake of a theology that concentrates upon the blessings of the created order and prosperity here, has the Reformed Church abandoned a theology that focuses upon the ultimate possession of God as our inheritance? We who are the children of God are now instructed by the Apostle.

We are told that creation itself has nothing less than this goal in view. We are told that the creation anxiously longs for the realization of this specific goal. Verse 19 states that fact. And verse 22 expands on this by telling us that the creation groans and suffers birth pains to the end that this goal may be realized. That not only creation, we as the children of God, possibly not even understanding ourselves, are groaning within ourselves for the realization of this very pain. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves roam within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. Even while we are in this third estate, having been redeemed by Christ We are in a condition in which we groan within ourselves for the final realization of the goal which God has set out before us. That we would come, finally, to the revelation of that glory within us. The revelation of that glory that is ours by no other route than the possession of God himself as our inheritance.

The Apostle Paul is not naive, and even here in the first century he realizes that the goal and that good which is set out before us will be obscured in the storm and stress of life. He tells us that it will be obscured by affliction. He points out to us our sufferings in this present time. He points out to us that we are called in our conformity to Christ to suffer with him. And in the verses that conclude the eighth chapter, He places before us the links of a chain in which we are face to face with the struggle that comes upon the children of God in this world. Tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword. Just as it is written, for thy sake we are being put to death all day long. we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. In the midst of that affliction, it is possible for the Church to lose her bearings.

I don’t want to suffer. I certainly wouldn’t choose suffering. Why would I do that? That’s a foolish thing to do, isn’t it? To actually embrace suffering? After all, hasn’t it been our godly reformed heritage that has brought to us all the blessings that we enjoy presently in Western civilization? Why would we undo all that? Why would we choose some other direction? some other way of life than the comfortable life to which we’ve become accustomed.

Affliction, suffering, can obscure the goal. But the apostle speaks about something else here that can obscure the goal. It’s what he calls our weakness in verse 26. And in the same way, the Spirit also helps our weakness. What is this weakness of which he speaks? It is precisely this, the effects of the flesh and the world that leave us spiritually slow-witted, so that we can no longer perceive the nature of the good and the goal that is set before us.

We are content to settle down in the world, to make this world our home. This spiritual weakness especially exhibits itself in our prayers, when we are consumed in our prayers for the things of this world and the comforts in them. Do you need an example of a prayer in which the goal has not been obscured, in which the good has not been eclipsed.

I encourage you to turn over to Paul’s epistle to the Philippians if you want an example of a prayer that is conscious of the goal and the good that is in view in Romans 8.28. Verse 15 of the first chapter of Ephesians, For this reason I too, having heard of the in the Lord Jesus, which exists among you and your love for all the things do not be giving thanks for you while making mention of you in my prayer. Verse seventeen, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of his calling. There’s the goal. There’s the good. What are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the things and what is the surpassing greatness of his power toward us who believe? There’s a prayer offered in which the goal has not been obscured.

But know finally now how God’s grace is sufficient for us in our weakness and in our affliction. so that even in the midst of our affliction and in our weakness, we are face to face with him who is sufficient. There is the fundamental work of Christ, his death on our behalf, his resurrection, his who will bring a charge against God’s elect. God is the one who justifies. Who is he who condemns? Christ Jesus is he who died. Yes, rather, who has been raised, who is at the right hand of God, who intercedes for us. The sufficiency of the work of Christ on our behalf. The one who knows affliction, who has experienced weakness, having joined himself to us in our condition that we might be delivered.

But note also the work of the Spirit. Do you see what the Spirit does in this passage, verse 26? Before we are told about the Spirit groaning on our behalf, Verse twenty-six, we have been told about the creation which grows, and we have been told about ourselves. We, in our heart of hearts, groaning within ourselves for the realization of this goal. But now, in verse twenty-six, we’re told about the Holy Spirit who grows.

What’s going on here? It’s not only the Christ, the Son of God, who condescends to our condition, taking upon Himself our situation that we might be saved. No, it’s the Holy Spirit, likewise, who is condescending to our circumstance and taking upon Himself our condition. The creation groans, we groan, the Spirit groans. Why? Because the Spirit has come into our circumstance. as a testimony of the love of God, the continuing love of God for us. So when the gold is clouded, the good isn’t seen by us as clearly as it ought to be.

It is the Spirit that is working in us, who is working in us, interceding for us. with groanings that are too great to be uttered, so that even though we are incapable of praying as we ought to with respect to the goal, the Holy Spirit is faithful in praying for us with that goal clearly in view.

You might fall flat on your face, but the grace of God on your behalf is this. The Holy Spirit will never fall flat on his face. You might lose sight of the goal, but the Holy Spirit never loses sight of the goal. And this is the magnificence of grace. Even your weakness is overcome. We are more than conquerors through him who loved us. How rich and full of salvation.

And isn’t that the hope of the Reformed Church, of the Protestant movement, of Christians the world round? Even though presently we are faltering and failing, the Spirit succeeds, and God’s glory shall be reached. through the grace of God, and his goal achieved, through the praise of his name. Won’t you thank him for it? Let us pray. Lord, though we are slow with it, though we have succumbed, though we have been overcome, we pray, our God, that as your word works on us, we would appreciate the depths and the riches of your marvelous work of salvation. not only sending your son a propitiation for our sins, not only in raising him up as that one in whom we are raised, but also in giving us the Holy Spirit, whose ministry on our behalf presently means that even though we stumble and fall, your purposes will not fail with regard to your elect. And we thank you for the intercessions of your spirit, who always intercedes according to your will. And what is your will? But that the good and the goal would be achieved for us, and in us. O Lord, until we are

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.