Rom 8 Sermon "PROTECTION" WORD

“PROTECTION”

The Apostle Paul writes this letter to Christian converts in Rome to assure them of their new found salvation through Jesus Christ. It’s necessary that he does so because Judaizers (Jewish converts to Christianity who keep all the Jewish laws and tried to impose them on the other Christians; no pork, keeping the sabbath and all the man made rules that came with it) have come to Rome and have been telling the Roman Christians that they had a lower form of Christianity, because they weren't born Jewish and didn't keep the Jewish laws and traditions. So Paul writes this doctrinal letter to explain to the Roman Christians exactly how they received their salvation. But you have to know the backdrop and climate of Rome when Paul writes this letter in A.D 55.

Nero has just become emperor, and will later become know for his cruelty to the early church. He was emperor during the great Roman fire, and because of the Roman hostility against the Christians, Nero blamed the fire on Christians and there by killed hundreds including Paul. These Roman converts are transitioning for Romans (pagan lifestyle) to Christians (Godly lifestyle). They’re learning what they can and can’t do, while learning who they are in this new faith, that follows a Jewish carpenter that many say was resurrected from the dead after he crucified by His fellow Jews, because He was teaching them that God wants to deal with His children through grace and not law anymore. And their main duty as followers is to go tell everyone they can about what they heard and believe. They live in the same cities they live in before their conversion, they work in the same jobs they worked in before their conversion, they know the same people that think, act, and live, like they once did before their conversion. And they’re not becoming any more popular, because they’re so different and strange, with their God that they can’t see, and their Savior that isn't here to save them! (EXPOUND ON ROME) More and more Christians are being killed daily in Rome and Jerusalem, their meetings are becoming more dangerous by the day. This isn't a church as we could imagine it, though it’s called that in Pauls introduction of the letter. This is a gathering of believers that meet where they can, when they can, and have to be as inconspicuous as possible, but are charged to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to everyone they meet. For them life is lifeing! (EXPOUND NOTHING AROUND THEM IS LIKE THEM) Their torn, afraid, confused, and separate from other Christians who know what they’re going through, and they need answers…

And Paul after his formal introduction and salutations, wastes no time stating the reason for his letter in the beginning of chapter 1 when he says in v.16-17 “16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” EXPOUND (I want to talk to someone whose surroundings don’t match your future anymore!…) Then in the 3rd chapter He explains to the converts how they, and the whole world are equally guilty before God, but right after he explains the prognosis (sinful mankind), he gives the remedy which is Justification by faith in Jesus Christ. The Apostle proclaims in the v.23-24 “23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;…” He goes into more detail about how sin passed through Adam to all mankind, in the beginning of the 5th chapter, when he says in v.12 “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned”. But in true Pauline form the Apostle doesn't leave the reader destitute and hopeless in the thought of dying in their sins…but he does it in a very interesting way. He raises questions in an argumentative tone, with his first question in the 1st verse of the 6th chapter “What shall we say then?”(Paul is referencing all of the charges he has listed against mankind, and God’s unmerited favor to still except us through faith in His Son Jesus Christ…) But just as Paul ponders on the answer to “what shall we say then?” you can almost feel him looking back over his own life as he starts to testify in chapter 7 v.15 when he says “what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.” If I’m honest, it’s right here that I start to pay attention. I understand and am happy to learn about the topics Paul covered up until this point the doctrines of Justification and Salvation but when the Apostle starts to testify, for me it’s almost as if he can’t help but now talk about Glorification with a bold and powerful statement, not a question this time, In the 8th chapter v.1 “There is therefore no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”. You can feel the spirit of God rising in Paul as he makes this declaration, so much so that by the time he gets down to the 32nd verse he’s gone back to the defiant resolve in his tone of questions…

1.Question Section

a.#1: Who will oppose us? 31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Sometimes on this journey it can feel as if EVERYTHING is taking its best shot at you, and you're probably right! But we have to change our perspective…yes things will oppose us, yes issues will arise, life, and all of hell will do its absolute best to deter us, hoping that we don’t wake up and realize…we keep waking up! I WOKE UP! The hell we go through hasn't killed us yet! We keep overcoming obstacle after obstacle, challenge after challenge, set back after set back, and the devil wants your focus to be on the problem, and not the fact that you’re enduring while going through! Do I have anybody in the house that can look back over your life and see how God allowed you to endure through some stuff…yes it was scary, but I made it, I thought I wasn’t going to see today, but I’m still here…PREACH! I WOKE UP! YEA THE WEAPONS ARE FORMED, BUT THEY WONT PROSPER, NO OPPOSITION! YEA YOU TRIED IT, BUT IT FAILED AGAIN BECAUSE THE GOD I SERVE WONT ALLOW A HAIR ON MY HEAD BE HURT…THINGS KEEP HAPPENING BUT I KEEP WINNING! (REPEAT)NO OPPOSITION Paul goes on with his questions in v.33 he asks…

b.#2: Who will accuse us? 33. Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies. When I was a Small Business Financial Analyst for NCB we had a very interesting perk for business customers that had a long standing relationship with NCB, there were certain financial products (loans, lines of credit, etc.) that these customer were pre approved for! They didn’t have to have the right credit score, debt to income ratio, profit & loss statements, nothing, because of their relationship with NCB, they were approved without having to qualify! If you wondering what justification is it’s God’s pre approval of you because of the love He already has for you! When I think about the fact that I don’t have to do anything for God to love me, matter of fact thousands of years ago before we were thought of somebody wrote “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son…” That let us know right there, we didn't even have to show up for God to be thinking about us, working a plan to redeem us back to Himself. I don’t need your approval, God already approved me! Paul doesn't stop there he’s just getting started his next question is…

c.#3: Who will condemn us? 34. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. When Paul chooses to use this word “condemneth” unlike the previous word “condemnation” in v.1 which denote that the person is already guilty! “Comdemneth” denotes the present tense, meaning who can currently condemn us? But even deeper, because Paul is using the reference of the judicial system the original greek word means to find guilty! So Paul does his big one with this question, because he’s literally saying “who can find us guilty?” It’s Christ who died, better yet was resurrection, who is at the right hand of God interceding for us. You can’t currently find me guilty because Jesus has already paid the price!!! I am guilty, but He already stepped in a took the charge for me, He stepped in and paid the fines so that I could be free, He stepped in and even though I’m guilty of everything Paul laid out in this letter, I stand guilty, but free! I’m guilty but I wont serve any time, I’m guilty but I wont pay for this, I’m guilty but Jesus loves me so much I won’t see any penalty for my guilt! I’m guilty but I’m free! (PREACH) Paul shifts his focus from who will to what will! He’s making the shift from spiritual prosecution to natural persecution; the things that we face in the world. But Paul isn't backing down from his resolve. He’s making sure to let his readers know that theirs nothing on either side that can defeat us. Who & What?

d.#4: What will separate us? 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? The KJV says who, but when you look at the list that Paul details out it’s not who can, but what can because he lists 7 possible forms of suffering in life. Trials, stress, people making false accusations, having nothing to eat, losing everything, immediate danger, and murder.

2.Answer Section

He then uses Psalm 44:22 to explain the believers constant situation 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. But quickly makes another shift from asking questions to answering them with a declaration when he says in..

a.Declaration: We are more than conquerors v. 37 I want that to be our declaration today no matter what I face no matter what I see, what comes against me, no matter what the doctor says, no matter how bad the situation looks, no matter what the judge says, I’M MORE THAN A CONQUEROR THROUGH BECAUSE HE LOVES ME! And I want our conviction to be like Pauls in v.38

All this week the Lord had the word “PROTECTION” in my spirit and He lead me to this passage of scripture and I could figure out what this had to do with protection…

b.Conviction: Nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This reminds me of David in the 139th Psalm “7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in HELL/Sheol, behold, You are there.

9 If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, 10 Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me.”

Paul teaches us how to face the fears of life. But all this week the Lord had the word protection in my spirit. He lead me to this text and I completed my assignment and was still confused as to how protection applies to this text, and the…who will…stop us with God on our side, I know we all have a past but who can accuse us, my Savior already died for me, who can condemn us it’s God that chose us, what can separate us….NOTHING!!! PREACH! NOTHING CAN SNATCH ME OUT OF HIS HAND, NOTHING CAN DETER ME NOTHING CAN BLOCK ME, NOTHING CAN TURN US, NOTHING CAN BREAK US, OUR GOD HAS ALREADY PROTECTED US FROM ANYTHING THAT MIGHT COME OUR WAY! SOME OF US LIKE PAUL HAVE BEEN THROUGH TOO MUCH…. TO STOP TRUSTING HIM NOW, WE’RE “FULLY PURSUED” NOTHING CAN SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD THATS IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD!