So we come to worship the Lord this morning. I want to turn your attention to Romans chapter 8. Our service, our entire service today, is fixed upon the theme of getting our eyes fixed upon the blessed hope of Jesus' second coming. The second coming of Christ, so very important. For a call to worship, focus upon Romans 8, verses 18 to 25. Paul writing by inspiration of the Spirit says, For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits 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. Because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pains together until now. Not only that, but we also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For why does one still hope for what one sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. I suspect it's true of you as it is of me that I do not meditate as often as I should upon the second coming of Christ. We get distracted by so many different things. Perhaps one hindrance is there's so many goofy things taught in the broader evangelical world about the end times that we find the thought of it not pleasant. We don't want to get bogged down into some of those things and so it keeps us from really fixing our mind upon the hope that's before us. But perhaps closer to home is just the fact that we get lost in the tyranny of the urgent, don't we? We get tired. We get worn down. We get just worn out. Because you men, you work hard to make ends meet, and you ever come home, you cash your paycheck, and then you write your bills, and you go, I have one nostril left above the water keeping me from drowning. And you just struggle to make ends meet, so you're just waiting all the time. You look around and you see the world and how mad it's disintegrating and it's very easy to get depressed when you see this, the evil and the compromises and the open rebellion that is all around in our world. You look within the church and so often the church is compromising God's ways in so many different avenues. If you're on social media, I'm not, but if you're on social media, do you ever get worn down by all the controversies that's going on, not just from the world, but from Christians? People who are just saying all kinds of provocative things, and after a while you just get so tired of it because there's a whole lot of heat being generated and not much light. And then there's the rejection you get. Rejection for the faith. Friends and family who want nothing to do with you because you love the Lord and because you love His gospel. Those kinds of things hurt. And then there's a reality that we have loved ones who get old, get feeble, get sickly, pass away. And all those things are real burdens for us. Brothers and sisters, it's in the midst of those very things that the second coming of Christ is the thing we need to be fixed upon. We need to remember in the middle of those issues that we have a blessed hope. Because while these struggles and while these tribulations are very real, they're also temporary. They're not going to last forever. They are temporal, not eternal. Notice what Paul says again, verse 18, "...for I consider that the sufferings..." That's all the things we've just talked about. All the sufferings of this present time, they're not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. There are things in eternity that are glorious because there, there is no suffering. There, if you're in Christ, there's the presence of God forever and ever and ever without end. There, there is no death or suffering or curse or any such thing. And so notice, verses 19 through 22, Paul says that even the creation itself is longing for its liberty. Do you know that when Adam sinned, on that day when he fell, Literally, a new scientific law was started. It's called the second law of thermodynamics. That everything is decreasing in order. Everything's heading toward a state of decay. That is true because Adam fell into sin. And this world was plunged under the curse. And the creation is longing for the day when it's delivered from the curse. And it will be when it's destroyed with fire and then reconstituted as the new heaven and the new earth. But then what about us? Verses 23, 24, and 25. Not only that, we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves, grown within ourselves. We're weary. We're tired. We're foot sore. We're ready for something new, something different. But look at what it says, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. Now, brothers and sisters, listen to this. When Jesus died for you, He didn't just die to redeem your soul. He died to redeem the whole man, body and soul. And when Jesus comes back, He's going to give us new glorified bodies that don't get tired, that don't get sick, that never die, that are absolutely renewed. And we're longing for that day. And best of all, not only are you going to have a new body, your sin is going to be done away with. You're not even going to struggle with sin anymore. You're never going to have to confess sin to the Lord, or confess sin to your brothers or sisters, or confess sin to your wife or your husband. Because there'll be no sin to confess. Because that's what Jesus is coming to do. And notice what Paul says, how he ends all this. Verse 24 says, We were saved in this hope. Take away the future second coming of Christ, and you take away the hope of the gospel itself. Because we were saved in this hope. We are to be fixed upon this hope. He says, hope that is seen is not hope, for why does one still hope for something that he already sees? But verse 25, notice, get your focus upon the second coming of Christ. It changes the way you live presently. Verse 25, if we hope for what we do not see, We eagerly wait for it with perseverance. It enables us to persevere in the present age when we fix our gaze upon the hope of Christ's second coming. So it's good stuff to be focused upon this morning, to think about the second coming of Christ. Let's worship this great God with great joy, who has given us such a hope. Let's pray. Our Father, we come before you in the name of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And Father, doubtless, many of us are tired and weary this morning. We pray that you would have mercy upon our souls and the times of refreshing would come from the presence of the Lord. As we sing your praises, Lord, as we hear the word read, as we hear the word preached, Lord, as we join our hearts together in prayer, as we fellowship with one another, Lord, we commit to you the balance of this afternoon, as many of us will be learning in the Great Commission course. We pray, O Lord, that the Spirit, despite our unworthiness, that through the merits of Christ, the Spirit would minister to us, to encourage us, to lift us up, to remind us of the age that is to come, and that all that is before us is so wonderful and so full of joy and encouragement. Fill us with your grace, we pray, in Jesus' name, amen.