Romans 8:31-39
Notes
Transcript
We Are Victors in Christ
We Are Victors in Christ
Good morning brothers and sisters, it’s so wonderful to see you in worship this morning.
I hope you enjoyed that extra hour of sleep last night. I know many wonder should we do it or not, I do not have an answer that really matter, but I did enjoy the extra hour....HA!
These things are truly not very important, just go along with the time change and give God thanks for the new day. If you are here today, I know you are blessed because you have life today.
Let me begin by asking you a question?
Do you ever feel like you are losing the battle some days? Do you ever feel like nothing seems to go right, you feel like you are so unworthy and inadequate before the Lord.
You struggle believing that God has a plan and purpose for you, And at times you wonder, How could God love me and want to use me?
Many people share these things with me and honestly, some times I feel like that, I feel unworthy some days… I imagine you do as well.
What is the answer?
It is always returning to the Word of God and seeing the promises He has placed there for us.
Our passage today is one of those passages, where we are reminded that God loves us and does indeed care for us.
So today we are going to look at the idea of being victorious in Christ from Romans 8, verses 31-39
So if you have your Bibles, lets find that passage and we will begin today.
I want you to know my friends that in Christ, you have security and victory why? Because God loves you.
So lets begin with this thought today....
1. God is for Us....
So often people have the assumption that God is out to get them. It’s true my friends, people view God like that some harsh warden that is watching them like a hawk, and will swoop down of them and soon as they mess up.
Wow, That is a messed up understanding of who God is and what His love means...
We must have a proper, and a correct view of God to understand how He views us.
Lets look at the first part of this passage my friends.... Verses 31-33
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.
Frankly this is one of the most meaningful thoughts that Paul shares with the believers there at Rome, and I think for us as well, since we are the church today.
There in verse 31, Paul begins with a question....”
“What then shall we say to these things?....” v 31.
What things? Think about what we have been learning these past few weeks...
All through chapter 8, Paul has taught those believers in Rome so many biblical truths that reveal how they, and every child of God benefits from God’s blessing on them. God is telling them what He has for them…
Look back with me in chapter 8....
A.) As God’s children we have been adopted into the family of God v 15,
B.) We are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ v 17, C.) We received the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of our redemption v 23,
D.) Our prayers are taken by the Holy Spirit, who presents them to God v 26,
E.) And as the children of God we have been acquitted of all the charges sin brought against us. V 30.
F.) God tells us that our future glorification is certain, like it has already taken place if you will…V 30.
Do you see those… What does that tell us? God is for us..... God loves us. Listen to that my friends, God is for us and God loves us!
And here is the truth, If God is for us, it really doesn’t matter who is against us. Truly, there is only one who is against us, one who hates us, that is Satan… But here is the truth.
Satan cannot succeed in your life, He is powerless against the work of the Father in our lives. Sin no longer has any power in our lives, except for the power we give sin.
And this is where believers mess up, we allow sin in our lives and we allow it to change us, to harm us to lead us astray. It doesn’t have too…Here is why...
“...Greater is He has is in you, than he that is in the world. Man, I love I John 4:4....
God is greater, Why is there any reason to fear and be afraid.
There is no one like our God.... Listen to 1 Samuel, 2:2
2 “There is none holy like the Lord:
for there is none besides you;
there is no rock like our God.
God is the creator of all things, including all the physical and spiritual elements of this world, that includes man and the angels. And since God is the source of all things, then who can oppose Him.
God is Sovereign, No one can! ,
No one my friends.... Because He is for you, nothing, no one can be against you and hurt you. You are His and He is yours. Hallelujah
6 The Lord is on my side; I will not fear.
What can man do to me?
7 The Lord is on my side as my helper;
I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.
God is for you. Write that daily on your heart and mind, mediate on that, apply that and do your best for Him.
And then secondly this morning, we are victorious in Christ because He took our own penalty.
2. Jesus Took Our Penalty....
You know as parents, we never want our children to experience pain or hurt. Man, it kills us to see them face disappointment, let alone hurt or suffer pain. I sincerely believe it is the same with our heavenly Father.
Sin hurt humanity, in fact it brought death to them. And seeing man fall into sin, and to see the pain and suffering it brought to them, I believe it broke the heart of God.
My friends, God hates sin.
But here is the most wonderful thought, God in His omniscience knew that man would fall, that sin would reign in them and He had already purposed before the creation of the world, for His Son, Jesus to take our penalty.
There is the love of God my friends.... He was already at work.
Lets go back to our text....
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
For our benefit, look at what God has done… We have already been talking about it, All that he has already done.
But now, His efforts are magnified in the truth that God sent Jesus into the world, that He might be made like us and become sin for us. If God would do that my friends, understand that God will not withhold any good thing for us.
Why? He loves us. As a good parent, we sacrifice for those God has given us, and so God sacrificed and sent Jesus, who suffered in our place, taking our sin and shame that we might be saved, that we might have life and hope. Do you remember Romans 4:25
25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
This sums up the gospel message, Jesus came to the world because the world needed help, it needed saving … and we couldn’t help ourselves, let alone deal with our sin. So it was the sovereign act of God for us. It was something only He could do, only God could provide such a gift and produce such salvation.
And as Paul has already shared in this chapter, Christ, at the right hand of the Father, is interceding for us.
Listen if God would do all this for us, don’t you think He is active and at work in us every day for our good. Yes.
God is at work daily in us for our good, I believe that, as it aligns with His glory.
Woooooo!
And what does that tell us, in Christ, we are completely secure. This is our third thought for today..
3. We are Secure in Christ...
I want to remind you my friends that if you are in Christ, you are safe and you have all that you need.
I think people forget this truth.
In reality, if we are not careful we find our security in what we have, in who we are and where we are in life. Trusting in those things is prideful, because we are looking at self.
Self provides no real security.... why? Life is temporary, trouble comes to us physically and yes even spiritually...
Our identity is in God, I am, you are a child of God if you have come to Him my faith and repentance. This identity will never change regardless of the circumstances in our world.
So our identity is in Christ first and foremost. The result of my life in Christ is what I enjoy as a husband, father and pastor.
And the important truth is what Paul reminds us of; nothing can separate us from Christ.
Lets go back and look at verses 35-36
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
The love of Christ is the focus here, in truth God has always loved you. Before you knew Him, understand He love you. Consider this passage...Romans 5:8
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
He loved us before we came to Him by faith… It is this love, this sacrificial love that has empowered all that He has done, past, present and future for us.
Past: He died for us, and Yes Saved us,
Present: He keep us
Future: We will see Him...
And Paul tells us that nothing can or will change that. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ verse 35...
Paul knows that He is talking about my friends, he had endured suffering, he had endured hardship but his anchor was found in Christ. And because of Christ, He had a calm assurance that the Lord would see him through this life into the next...
And he tells us this to reassure us. We may endure hardship, suffering and even persecution, but we do not have to be afraid. The love of Christ is with you. He has known you, loved you and has and will continue to work on your behalf until you cross that river and step onto the shores of glory.
God is in charge and He loves you completely!
And with all of this, we are more than conquerors in Christ. There is our last thought my friends, ......
4. We are More than Conquerors...
So often we find ourselves captivated by the circumstances we endure in life. I say captivated because we have a hard time seeing that God is present with us in every moment, good and bad.
Please know that God is with us in every circumstance of life, and nothing is to big for our God. He is present and in control...
But more than that, because God is victorious, we are victorious as well.
Here is a question, do you feel victorious in life? Honestly, we do not always feel that way, do we? No, we don’t.
But Paul reminds us we are… Lets look at the reasons… vv37-39
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Paul has been reminding us all through this chapter as to why we are so blessed in the eyes of God. Why we have so much to rejoice about…
But in persecution, in the circumstances of life were we suffer and struggle, we don’t always feel so joyful.
Here Paul wants to tell us again why we can rejoice. Because God turns every situation , even suffering and death into good.
Paul was happy to be in Christ, and nothing could separate him from His Lord.
Paul knew God has prepared his life and was using Him for good, for the glory of the Father in heaven. Do you remember what Paul told the believers at Ephesus much earlier in His ministry.. Eph 2:10
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
God has prepared Paul before hand, loved him and sought to use him to do work, work that was good and ultimately, shaped, molded Paul more and more, and like wise us into the image of the Son.
Q. Have you thought about that, God is at work in all your circumstances, doing a multitude of things, but ultimately it served to bless others, bless and glorify God and change you and shape your life more and more into the image of the Son.
The process is God’s and we are blessed because of it.
But just to clarify the idea, look at what Paul says in verses 38 & 39..
38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Paul says I am sure, or persuaded, the idea that beyond a shadow of a doubt Paul knew and believed God was able to keep and deliver him in spite of the worst that could come.
Look at how he contrasts this..
Death nor life… Paul tells us in Phil 1:21 that to life is Christ and to die is gain… Death is the greatest hostile power of sin, but being in Christ, Paul is like, I am not worried about it, I have Jesus.
Angels or rulers, literally demons, speaks to the Spirit world, (the Devil is the prince and ruler of the air)
Paul wrestled with the spiritual realm in life. Paul says in Eph 6:12
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Life just isn’t physical, its both physical and spiritual because that is what we are… we are physical people with an eternal soul.
Things present or things to come… Nothing today or tomorrow or at any time for that fact can separate a child of God from his Heavenly Parent, from almighty God.
Nor any powers....nothing, nothing nothing, Spiritual or physical can separate us..
Nor Height or depth… Nothing above the earth or below the earth… in
Nor anything else in all creation.... just in case anything has been left out, nothing can separate him not you from the love of God.
None of this will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.... Why, because we (me and you) are in Christ. We are members of the family of God, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.
Jesus is our Lord, but not only that friends, Jesus is Lord over all all things, and this guarantees the love of God.
Nothing can separate us, drive a wedge between us or remove us from the family of God. We are His and each day He is conforming us more and more into the image of the Son, perfecting us, making us until that day when we see Jesus.
Sometimes we feel so unworthy, but you are His. God is for us. He loves you and wants the very best for us, at times we cannot see or imagine what that is because of the circumstance we find our self in, But He is for you.
We know this because Jesus took our death, our penalty and has forever secured our place in Him, we can never be lost again. We are safe and secure.
Finally, understand, we are truly blessed, He conquered all for us, and thus in Him, by salvation we have conquered the effects of this world as well.
This morning, are you carrying a burden you struggle with carrying?
Are you broken hearted… bring it to Jesus.
This morning, do you feel God at work in your life? He is leading you, calling you? Will you answer His call.
Lets pray