Sermon Tone Analysis

·        */Our Bible reading is from Romans 8: 28-39/*

*Sermon –  More than conquerors - onward Christian Soldiers!*

Brothers and sisters, it is true , we are looking forward to God’s glory!

But sometimes, just sometimes, isn’t it true that we find ourselves crying out:

            How Long Lord???

How long is it then before you return?

How long should we wait?

How long should we continue to suffer?

I think it is true to say, sometimes we get impatient with the Lord…!

And when we do…we get disheartened…discouraged!

 

Then again… we should not be surprised by it.

There is a legend that has it that the devil once advertised his tools for sale at public auction.

When the prospective buyers assembled, there was one oddly-shaped tool which was labeled “Not for sale.”

Asked to explain why this was, the devil answered,

            “I can spare my other tools, but I cannot spare this one.

It is the most useful implement that I have.

It is called Discouragement,  and with it I can work my way into hearts otherwise inaccessible.

Wringing his hands he said: When I get this tool into a man’s heart, the way is open to plant anything there I may desire.”[1]

When we realise this – that it is the Devil who plants discouragement in our hearts – then we may refocus!

A few ways the devil works discouragement into our hearts – you who wants to be a minister, you are not good enough; you who goes to church every Sunday, look at the way you talk to your wife…you’re not really a Christian…

 

How can we prevent the Devil for getting this tool into our hearts?

Brothers and sisters, with another, far superior tool!

That tool is faith – faith in the gospel of Salvation…!

And the gospel spells out God’s plan for His chosen ones, His people – you and I.

And when we revisit it, we realise we can look forward to a future that is by far superior to any present day sufferings.

When Paul starts writing his letter to the Romans, he refers to it in verse 1 of chapter one: he writes:

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— 2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3 regarding his Son...

 

That’s the plan… the grand plan… And here in chapter 8, Paul now explains that plan to the chosen ones in more detail.

One may put a little picture in your mind…imagine Paul is an army commander in God’s armed forces.

And the Roman Christians … and you and I … are soldiers in that army…

 

The soldiers are a bit battle weary, and Paul wants to encourage them!

So he calls them to gather around him, and now Paul bends down and in the sand of some foreign landing beach, he draws them the plan he received from the Commander in Chief (God) that spells out the master plan for victory for the Christian soldiers.

And the broad outline is this…Paul states five convictions…

                                                then he lists five affirmations…

then he asks five questions that drive the full impact of God’s plan home:

(You have a draft copy of that plan – your sermon outlines!

The original is to be found in the Bible, in Romans!)

 

Paul starts of by saying: I know you are doing it tough!

(Ch 8 verse 22) but

know this, too…

            we have something to look forward too! (Ch 8:18-19).

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

How can we know that even now?

The Spirit informs us and works in us.

And we know it is so!

Because the spirit leads us to pray to God.

Will we pray to someone in whom we do not believe?

Look at  Ch 8:16-17:

/For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.

And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”/

And now, please look at verse 28: “/And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”/

/ /

We know!

 

Interestingly we also find “We know” also in verse 22…/we know the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth…/

/ /

So here we see two things that we do know: we know that we are presently still suffering….and

– as certain and knowable – we know that we are in God’s care – this much Paul says, we know!

As if to drive home that we may know that this is true, Paul, in verse 28, now lists five truths about God’s providence, five things that we certainly know …

 

            1.We know that God works, or *is at work*, in our lives...

Have you felt God work in your lives?

God works in our lives in so many ways, so many times…

How many stories can we here tell of how God keeps us safe

(these past week’s we had a very practical illustration in the correspondence from Kevin and Machi Rietveld, who testified how God kept them safe amidst the attacks that are currently prevalent in the Solomon Islands…

 

No doubt you can add countless tails to this list, some of them - even an apparent negative answer sometimes - that God may at times give to our prayers, but which in the long run, we realise, works to our spiritual benefit and salvation.

Which leads to something else we know…

            2.

We know that God is at Work *for the good* of His people…

God is wholly good and though we may not see it or understand it at the time,

God’s purpose is for us to share in His kingdom.

As such, all things work towards us reaching that purpose and therefore we may know that God works for our good!

See verses 29 and 30:

 

We are glorified in Christ – that is a very important part of God’s plan!

           

3.

We may know that God works for our good *in all things…*

And that includes the suffering we may endure …and when we realise this, we are encouraged by it for again, we see something of God’s plan in it

             – that everything, even our suffering, is designed to lead us ever closer to God God knows in advance even about our suffering and when it happens, it happens under His governance and control.

It is something that he has control over – we need not fear our suffering!

4.

Fourthly, we may know that God’s plan is for *those who love Him…*

To see the full implication of this we have to read it in the light of the previous knowing, that God works for *our good *in all things.

All things that happen does not work to the good of all, but to the good of those who love God, with other words, those who fear God, those who believe in God!

And it should not surprise us…did not God Himself command…love God with all your heart and soul and very being!

That is God’s great command!

So now we may know, for those who do love God- for them God will work all things for their good.

Not everyone, but those who love Him – and that includes us…so we are in     God’s plan!

           

            5.and

so fifthly, we may know that those who love God, are *also those who God has called* – we may know that!

Their love for Him – our love for Him – is a sign of His love for us!

If he did not love us first, we would not love Him – so we may know that we are in His plan from before time;

            right from the moment God created everything He knew that he would love us – and that because he loved us and cared for us, he would not let anything stop us from loving Him from tearing us out of God’s plan – we may know that.

*So there we have the five convictions!*

And then Paul draws the next part of God’s plan in the sand where His troops are anxiously looking on… *he lists five undeniable affirmations*   

            We find these in verses 29-30.

 

            1.

Paul wants his troops to feel encouraged by the fact that *God foreknew* them …or us!

Paul is using the word, foreknew, here, not in the sense of predestination, but in the sense of the way the word is used in the Old Testament, namely – that those God knows, he watches over.

And so we know that God, who had chosen Israel to be His people, with other words’ foreknowing them – that is why he chose them – he watched over them in the desert.

See how Hosea 13;5 puts it */….I cared for you in the desert, in the land of burning heat...”/* which is picked up by Paul in Romans 11:2 */God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew./*

*/ /*

That’s the first affirmation- Just think back, soldiers.

Think how God cared for His people, those he foreknew from the time of Abraham and even before – see the affirmation~/ especially for us today, thousands of years later – God still cares for us – how’s that for an affirmation!

 

            2.

Also, secondly in our set of affirmations, see the affirmation of God *predestining those he loved* to be conformed (verse 29).

He predestined them to be conformed to the likeness of His Son – how indescribable is that as an affirmation – we will be like Jesus!

It has been predestined to be like this.

The affirmation of course lies in this…that God had decided before time and no time that he would liken us to His Son, so that we might join Him in glorifying God the Father.

This is not dependent on something we might do or might not be able to do…those who he foreknew, he also predestined to be likened to the Son.

It has always been this way and we may find immeasurable encouragement in that!