Looking Forward by Looking Back: Who Can Be Against Us?
Looking Forward by Looking Back • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 35:17
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· 20 viewsSince nothing can stand against us in Christ, we have abiding confidence for tomorrow!
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And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
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?
Prayer
My desire for this opening series of 2023 is to see your faith in God’s future grace strengthened.
I want you to be so confident in God’s future grace for 2023, that no matter the storms that come your faith holds strong.
Paul concludes by saying...
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
He asks a simple question…
Since God is for us, who can be against us?
How can he ask such a question?
Question:
Question:
“Who can be against us?”
There must be some basis for this rhetorical question.
What is the basis for this question?
What are the “these things” that Paul is referring to?
We need to look back to the verses just prior.
Basis for Hope
Basis for Hope
“The Root System”
Jump back up to verse 28.
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
All good things come to those who love God and are called according to His purpose.
This is a profound promise.
It promises that everything that happens to us is ULTIMATELY for our GOOD.
Sickness
Trial
Death
Persecution
Everything!
Why does a person love God?
How does someone know they are called according to His purpose?
Why did you become a Christian?
Consider with me, an oak tree.
When you think about the tree as a sapling, it appears very weak and fragile.
But think about the same tree 200 years later as being a massive oak tree.
The tree provide shade,
habitation for animals,
maybe even a swing for a child.
But that tree is not all that it appears on the surface.
The tree has a root system which supplies, life, and all sustenance to it.
That tree could’ve never existed as a sapling apart from its root system.
Paul is forcing us to look at the root system.
A reality which is currently unseen from our view he is asking us to consider.
Paul is pointing at that God is the ULTIMATE cause behind your salvation.
God is the CAUSE
This DOES NOT remove the need to exercise faith.
What Paul is doing here is assuring the believer that FAITH will achieve it’s goal!
Paul is about to answer that question in the next couple of verses...
because those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.
This is what has been referred to as the golden chain of redemption.
The golden chain that we could spend many weeks unpacking and looking at each word in turn.
Foreknown
Foreknown
“Knew Beforehand”
Romans 8:29 (ESV)
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined
To say that God has known us beforehand is to present something which is surely mind boggling.
Before the foundations of the world, as Ephesians says..
Ephesians 1:4 (ESV)
even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.
The idea we should be grappling with here is that God has known us long before we ever knew Him.
God knew what we would be like.
He knew what kind of sinners we would be.
He knew
Not only has God foreknown us but He has…
Predestined
Predestined
“Determined Us”
This word for predestined essentially means to “decide upon beforehand, predetermine” (BDAG)
God has determined that we as individuals would be conformed to the image of His Son.
Romans 8:29 (ESV)
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son,
So when we read in Genesis 1:27
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
The image that God was setting forward to humans was based upon THE IMAGE of God.
Which is God the Son.
So the ONES who God knew beforehand that He was going to redeem, He also determined to be conformed to Christ’s image.
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
The Epistle to the Romans 5. The Purpose of God, 8:28–30
Paul is saying that God is the author of our salvation, and that from beginning to end. We are not to think that God can take action only when we graciously give him permission.
Ephesians 1:4–5 (ESV)
In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
Called
Called
“Chose Us”
Romans 8:30 (ESV)
And those whom he predestined he also called,
Calling describes the effects of saving grace on a person which comes through the gospel message.
To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This is the effective calling.
“Let there be light!”
“Lazarus, COME OUT!”
His call of the gospel on the heart of the believer that accomplishes its purposes.
Justified
Justified
“Declared Us Right”
Romans 8:30 (ESV)
And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified,
A person is justified by faith…
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
The ones who have been effectually called have been justified.
He also is the ONE who “Declares us Right” before Him.
Glorified
Glorified
“Made Us Holy”
Glorified is the future reality of believers.
But he speaks of us in the past tense to show the surety which they can hope in this coming to pass.
What Shall We Say?
What Shall We Say?
Can anything stand against the person that God has worked all this for?
Is it possible for anything to stand in the way of the person who God has decidedly worked in?
The logic is: You will be glorified someday because you have been declared righteous,
you have been declared righteous because God has called you in the gospel,
you have been called in the gospel because God determined who will be His children,
and He determined you to come to Him in His perfect foreknowledge.
1 Thessalonians 1:4–5 (ESV)
For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you,
because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.
What could ever stand against this?
Who could effectively tear down that Oak Tree?
Who could destroy it?
Who could rip it up from the ground?
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Answer: No One!
Answer: No One!
Without answering his own question…
Paul implies, NO ONE!
No one can stand against us.
But notice the reason why Paul says this in verse 32…
Romans 8:32 (ESV)
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?
Did Not Spare
Did Not Spare
“Withheld Nothing”
God the Father did not hold back His only Son on our behalf.
He did not with hold anything from punishing His SON for us.
For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.
He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.
When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
When it says that God did not spare his only Son, we need to hear…
Christ bore our sin and our punishment.
The blows which were meant for me, He absorbed in Himself.
God the Father gave up His only Son for rebels and sinners.
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
This is abundantly good news for us.
But listen to Paul’s conclusion from this…
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
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?
All Things
All Things
“His Life for Ours"
The argument here is from the greater to the lesser.
If the Father was willing to send His Son for us… how will He not also give us everything!!
And its a kind of a good news that we need for 2023.
Can we really get behind this concept of “all things”?
Is God really going to give us “all things”?
We could all think of things from 2022 that we esteem as “good” that God didn’t give us.
Health
Safety
Success
A Spouse
Believing children
Shouldn’t that be evidence that God won’t give us all “good things” in 2023?
Remember what Paul is asking...
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
I think it would be helpful to keep in mind here that Paul is speaking in the ULTIMATE sense.
It would be helpful maybe to add the words…
“If God is for us, who can “successfully” be against us?”
Believing Christ is believing His grace will be sufficient for tomorrow.
But there are two barriers I want to address for what will hamper trusting Him for tomorrow.
One of the barriers to trusting in God‘s future grace is desiring for the wrong things.
Desires
Desires
“I Want...”
I want this new job...
new car
better husband/wife
When we think all things are about our own fleshly desires,
we will end up frustrated,
disappointed,
and ultimately begin to doubt what God is doing.
“All things” cannot be simply our selfish desires.
This is the same kind of thing Jesus promised in John 14:13-14
Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
The problem with asking for lesser things is not the thing itself.
Its the smallness of the thing.
“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak.
We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us,
like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.
We are far too easily pleased.” -C.S. Lewis
Two confidences for God’s future grace…
Confidence in Joy
Confidence in Joy
“Satisfied…”
So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours,
whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours,
and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.
Which is why Paul can say even a few verses later...
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,
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.
There is NOTHING.
There is NOTHING that can separate you from TRUE and everlasting JOY in Christ Jesus.
We overwhelmingly, conquer, not by escaping these terrible things, but by watching god turn these enemies of our joy into servants of our good.
-John Piper
You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
The great promise of future grace, guaranteed in the logic of Romans 8:32, is that nothing will ever enter your experience as God's child that, by God's sovereign grace, will not turn out to be a benefit to you. This is what it means for God to be God, and for God to be for you, and for God to freely give you all things with Christ.
-Piper
Since nothing can stand against us in Christ, we have abiding confidence for tomorrow!
The second barrier for believing God’s future grace, are false expectations
Expectations
Expectations
“I Should…”
I should have enough money,
Love from my husband,
respect for my children,
a boss who treats me well,
and friends that value me.
Those things are not bad… but they are NOT ultimate.
To have expectations of a life in Christ is not the life described by the Apostle Paul.
Who can “successfully” be against us?
But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;
persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;
always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.
For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
So death is at work in us, but life in you.
Confidence for Needs
Confidence for Needs
“I Have...”
For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.
Since nothing can stand against us in Christ, we have abiding confidence for tomorrow!