Hope for the Future 

Scripture Reading: Romans 8:18-27.

Memory Verse: "Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1:13).

Introduction: Before considering this passage of Scripture, we must establish a better translation. It is obvious we are not literally "saved by hope." We have studied enough to recognize that we are saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8). But when God planted His salvation within us, it was with the hope for its fulfillment in eternal life. That is why we are "looking for the blessed hope," as the song says. We even groan in anticipation of the life to come.
  Donald Barnhouse relates this analogy, "Think of a couple who have fallen in love with each other. We will say, for example, that it is autumn, and they know they cannot be married until the end of a school year. It is not long before the young man says, 'Darling, think! we will be married in just two hundred and fifty days!' And they will delight to count off the days, to find themselves in the two hundred and thirties, and then in the two hundred and twenties. The day when their marriage is one hundred and ninety-nine days away is a landmark. Then the number goes down slowly--oh, so slowly!--toward the one hundred day mark. Then it is ninety days, sixty days, thirty days, ten days, tomorrow! All true lovers know this loving groaning toward their day of hope, the consummation of their joy. This was the purpose of their falling in love, that they might be together, that they might be one.
  "To change the figure, a mother, the instant that she knows she is with child, lives her every moment in anticipation of her deliverance from the burden that is within her. After a time she cannot take a step, make a move, think a thought that is disassociated from the coming of her child. ...In France...if a man is introduced to a woman who is an expectant mother, it is the height of politeness for him to congratulate her. 'I congratulate you on your hope,' is a common phrase among the cultured.
  "Just as a woman becomes pregnant in anticipation of bearing a child, so a believer becomes saved in anticipation of being fully like the Lord Jesus Christ. It is unto this state of hope that we are saved."--D. Stuart Briscoe, The Communicator's Commentary, Romans, p. 170.

Lesson Questions:

1. From what perspective does Paul view "the sufferings of this present time?" Romans 8:18; 2 Corinthians 4:17,18; 1 Peter 1:6-9; 5:4; 1 Corinthians 2:9; 1 John 3:2; Philippians 3:20,21.

2. What future event has all of creation waiting in suspense? Romans 8:19.
There is a glorious note of triumph in Paul's anticipation of new order in the created world. In the same way that man's fall has dragged creation downhill, so man's glorification will not only end that trend but introduce an era in which the new heaven and new earth will demonstrate the glory of God as clearly as will redeemed humanity.--Donald Grey Barnhouse, God's Heirs, Vol. 3, p. 131.

3. Will God deliver the earth and all of creation from corruption? Romans 8:20,21; Genesis 3:17; Isaiah 24:4-6; 66:2; 11:6-10; 65:19-25; Revelation 21:1

4. How much is creation really suffering from the fall of mankind? Romans 8:22; Jeremiah 12:4,10-12.

5. Discuss the intense feelings Christians have for redemption from this life. Romans 8:23; 2 Corinthians 5:1-8; Philippians 1:21.
The groaning which characterizes the believer is a desire to be finished with the life of this world in order that we may enter into the reality of the life of eternity: we wait for "the redemption of our bodies." This is the final phase of our salvation.--Donald Grey Barnhouse, God's Heirs, Vol. 3, p. 140.

6. How important is hope in our future redemption? Romans 8:24,25; 4:17,18; 5:1-5; 15:4,13; Colossians 1:21-23; 1 Peter 1:13;  1 Thessalonians 5:8.
The difference between patience and hope of the fifth chapter and that which is in today's text is like the difference between first year math and differential calculus.--Martin Luther, Commentary on Romans, p. 126.

7. How does the Holy Spirit help our vast shortcoming in prayer? Romans 8:26; Ephesians 6:18; 1 Corinthians 2:10-13.

8. What other prayer support is holding us up to the Father? Romans 8:27; Hebrews 7:25.
Even the pious person cannot by his own strength desire the glory of heaven as ardently [as the Holy Spirit would]. Therefore, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us with ineffable groanings of which we ourselves are incapable.--The Preacher's Outline & Sermon Bible, Romans, Volume 7, p. 154.