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God is for Us Romans 8:31-39 |
October 3, 2004 Pastor Tom Marcum |
Many of you know that a couple of weeks ago Stirling and I got the phone call that every parent dreads-Jordan's been in an accident and the ambulance is on the way to the scene. Suddenly your whole world begins to spin. Your heart begins to race. Your mind becomes a blur. Your legs get weak. One moment you're resting in the blissful joy of the routine and the next moment your entire world is rattled to the core.
When she'd gone off to college a couple of weeks earlier we were comforted greatly by the fact that she was only 500 miles away. All of a sudden, 500 miles was anything but comforting.
Through the flurry of phone calls that followed, the details of the accident began to get a little clearer. Most importantly, we were able to speak with Jordan on her cell phone in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. She was clearly dazed, but didn't appear to be seriously hurt. A couple of hours later we got another phone call from some of our family members telling us that Jordan was being released from the hospital and they were bringing her home with them. The doctors had checked her out and had determined that she was OK.
It was astonishing. All it took to restore order, calm and peace to our world was the simple declaration that, "Jordan is OK." In that moment the world became a much better, much happier place for us. From that moment on, everything that happened was filtered through the wonderful declaration that "Jordan is OK." And it changed the way we looked at everything.
-- So, someone says, "You know, I hate to tell you this but Jordan's car is totaled." Yeah, that's too bad. But Jordan's OK.
-- And someone else says, "We still don't have all the details but it sure looks like she's going to be at fault." Well, I'm sorry to hear that. But Jordan's OK.
--And some else says, "Did you know that she might have hit several cars?" No, actually I didn't know that. But Jordan's OK.
Everything was being viewed against the backdrop of this wonderful declaration that Jordan was OK and it changed profoundly the way we looked at everything.
The Declaration -- God is FOR Us
This morning, we're going to look at another life-transforming declaration as our journey through the book of Romans brings us to the end of the eighth chapter.
--Last week, in Romans 8:28, we explored what I described as the greatest promise of all--the promise that God works in all things for the good of His children. The amazing promise that there is absolutely nothing that you and I, as God's children, can experience that God cannot use in some way to bring about our ultimate good.
--This morning, we come to Romans 8:31 to explore what I would call the greatest declaration of all. A simple declaration that can absolutely transform your life and this is the declaration--"God is for us." "God is for us." Folks, if you understand all that this declaration means and the reasons why you can be confident that it is true, it will absolutely transform your life.
So, let's jump in and take a closer look. Romans 8:31 begins like this, "What, then, shall we say in response to this?" In response to what? In response to the amazing series of things that Paul has identified in the preceding verses as actions that God has taken on behalf of those of us who by faith have been united with Christ. Let's take a minute to review some of the things that Paul has told us.
--In verse 1 he told us that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
--In verses 15-16 he told us that God has adopted us into His family and we have become His children.
--In verse 17 we learned that God has an incredible inheritance in store for us, because we have become co-heirs with Christ.
--In verse 23 we learned that God has given us His Spirit as a guarantee of our ultimate redemption.
--In verse 26 we learned that in those times when we are at our weakest, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us, making known to God the unvoiced prayer concerns of our hearts.
--In verse 28 we learned that God works through every circumstance of our life to bring about our good.
--And in verse 30 we learned that the completion of the work that God has started in us is so certain that Paul can write about it as if it has already taken place.
So, in light of this amazing array of actions that God has taken for us, Paul comes to verse 31 and asks, "What, then, shall we say in response to this?" In other words, what are we to conclude from such an outpouring of blessings from God? And he shares his conclusion at the end of the verse, "If God is for us, who can be against us?"
Though it's phrased as a question, what we actually have here is nothing less than the greatest declaration of all. Namely, that in light of all that God has done and is doing on our behalf, there is only one possible conclusion that we can draw -- and that is that God is for us!
--In all that He does, God is for us.
--In all of His plans, God is for us.
--In all ways and at all times God is actively pursuing our good.
God is for us!
And to support his declaration, Paul offers up three very convincing arguments in the verses that follow.
Proof #1 -- God Withholds Nothing Good from Us
To begin with, Paul tells us that we can know that God is for us because GOD WITHHOLDS NOTHING GOOD FROM US. That's the point that Paul makes in verse 32 when he writes, "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all-how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?"
The technique that Paul is employing here is called arguing from the greater to the lesser. It works like this -- once we establish that some greater thing is true, logic demands that we conclude that the lesser thing would also be true.
For instance, if I go to my boss and say, "I've been comparing my salary to others in similar positions and I believe I deserve a raise. What would say to $10,000 a year?" And the boss says, "Done. You deserve it. You got it." So, I thank him and leave.
Then, after thinking about it for a while I come back to the boss and say, "I just realized that another $10,000 would bump me into a higher tax bracket. Would it be OK with you if we made it $5,000 instead of $10,000?" Well, obviously, since the boss had already approved a greater raise he's certainly going to approve a lesser raise.
So Paul employs that same kind of reasoning here. It unfolds like this -- God longed to have a right relationship with us and the greatest obstacle standing between us and a right relationship with God was our sin. So, when God determined that the only way to bring about the forgiveness of our sin was through the death of His Son, He allowed Jesus to die so that we could be forgiven.
God was so determined to secure our salvation that He did not hesitate even when the price of our salvation was the life of His only Son who He loved with all of His heart. Consequently, since God has already given us the very best that He had to give when He allowed Jesus to die for us, how could we even imagine that He would withhold from us anything that would be for good.
2 Peter 1:2-3 says it like this: "Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness…" Folks, here's the point-if you are a child of God, He has already given you the greatest blessing of all-eternal salvation and the complete forgiveness of all your sins through the sacrifice of Jesus. Since He's already given you His best, you can know that God will gladly give you all things that are truly for your good.
Folks, there's just no doubt about it -- God is for us!
Proof #2 -- God Allows Nothing to Condemn Us
Now, as we move into the next verses Paul tells us that we can also know that God is for us is because GOD ALLOWS NOTHING TO CONDEMN US.
But before we move on to the following verses, let's go back for a moment to verse 31. At the end of verse 31 Paul makes this confident assertion, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" Who can be against us? His point is not that Christians will never have to face an enemy or never have to face someone who seeks to harm them. The truth is, Christians are likely to face those kinds of opponents. Paul's point in verse 31 is that we can be confident that no one who attempts to do us in will ultimately succeed, because while they may be against us, God is always for us.
Remember the promise that we saw last week in verse 28 -- that God works in all things for our good. Well, folks, the words "all things" includes any of those plots that our opponents might launch against us. Consequently, our confidence is that God will even work through the schemes of our enemies to bring about our ultimate good. "If God is for us, who can be against us?"
Now, as we come to verses 33-34 Paul is going to expand on this assertion to talk, specifically, about the protection that we have against anyone who would seek to condemn us. He writes in verse 33, "Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies."
The language here is the legal language of the courtroom. And the courtroom that Paul is describing is the Supreme Court of the Universe in which God is both judge and jury and when God renders His verdict, it's final. There are no appeals because there is no higher authority.
So, Paul's point is this -- if you are among those whom God has chosen…if God has called you and you responded in faith to His offer of salvation through Jesus…then you are a child of God and He has already rendered His verdict in your case. And God's verdict for you is, "justified." Case closed. You have been acquitted in the Highest Court of all and there is no one who can raise some new charge against you that will convince God to change His verdict, because He didn't forgive some of your sins, He forgave all of your sins. You have been "justified."
Now, someone might try to raise an objection here and ask, "Your Honor, how can a righteous God ignore sin and let guilty people go free?" And in verse 34 we hear Paul's response to that objection. "Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died -- more than that, who was raised to life -- is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us."
Paul's response includes two key elements. The first is this -- when Paul writes here of, "Christ Jesus, who died," he's telling us that God didn't pronounce us "justified" by ignoring our sin. He pronounced us "justified" by accepting Jesus' death as payment in full for the penalty of our sin. In other words, our sin did not go unpunished. Jesus was punished to the fullest for our sin, so that God could pronounce us "justified."
The second key element of Paul's response is seen in his description of Jesus as the one who, "was raised to life" and "is at the right hand of God… interceding for us." Paul's point here is two-fold.
First, he emphasizes Jesus' resurrection because the resurrection proves that God really did accept Jesus' death as full and complete payment for the penalty of our sin. Folks, think about it. God would not have brought Jesus back to life if he had to stay dead to keep our sins paid for. Consequently, the resurrection proves the sufficiency of Jesus' death as payment for our sin.
Secondly, Paul calls our attention to the fact that Jesus, even now, is interceding for us with His Father to demonstrate that His sacrifice for us remains effective for all of eternity. Any time any one attempts to raise a charge against us, Jesus immediately rises to plead our case and the evidence that He offers on our behalf is His own blood shed on the cross for the forgiveness of all our sin. And, folks, there is no charge against us that can stand in the face of this evidence.
Folks, we know that God is for us because God will allow nothing to condemn us.
God Will Allow Nothing to Separate Us from His Love
Now, as we move to the closing verses of chapter 8 Paul offers us one final piece of evidence to prove his assertion that God is for us. He says that we can also know that God is for us because GOD WILL ALLOW NOTHING TO SEPARATE US FROM HIS LOVE.
Beginning in verse 35 he writes, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: 'For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.' No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."
Folks, there are several key points to see here.
First, every child of God is absolutely secure in the love of God. You cannot be separated from Christ's love.
However…and this is the second key point…being secure in the love of Christ does not make you immune to suffering. In fact, Paul offers a quote from Psalm 44 to assure us that God's people have always suffered because of their faith in God. So, in verse 37 Paul tells us that the victory that God promises to us is not the victory that is experienced by avoiding these kinds of things, rather, it is the victory that we experience, "in all these things."
Finally, notice that God's word assures us that we will not only be victorious in the face of our struggles, but we will be "more than" victorious. As Paul writes in verse 37, "in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." So, the question is-what does it mean to be "more than" conquerors.
Folks, the key here is to look back to the promise of verse 28. A conqueror survives the battles of life. A "more than conqueror" actually benefits from the battles of life. Folks, we are "more than" conquerors because God has promised to use our battles to bring about our good.
And with that we come to the climax of Paul's argument in verses 38-39. And while we could certainly take the time to carefully define each of the key words that Paul uses here I think we are actually better served just to let them wash over us as wave after wave of assurance that in all of creation there is absolutely nothing that can separate God's children from God's love. Absolutely nothing.
Beginning in verse 38 we read, "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."
Folks, there is no power in all the world that will ever be able to drive even the smallest of wedges between God and His children. Instead, the sovereign God of the universe is working in such a way that all the forces of the universe will work together to accomplish His good purpose in us.
And what is God's purpose in us? He is making us like Christ.
Folks, there's just no doubt about it -- God is for us!
And all God's people said, "Amen!"
© Copyright 2004 Pastor Tom Marcum