God is For us!

Big Idea: We will win in the end.

v. 18-25

*Creation Groans - when God finished His creation it was good; but today it is a groaning Creation. There is suffering and death; there is pain, all of which is, of course, the result of Adams sin. It is not the fault of creation. One day creation will be delivered from it’s groaning and it will become a glorious creation!

The Believer does not focus on today’s sufferings; he looks forward to tomorrows glory.

*We believers groan - The reason we groan is because we have experienced the firstfruits of the spirit, a foretaste of glory to come.

*The Holy Spirit groans - God is concerned about the trials of His people. Today the Holy Spirit groans with us and feels the burdens of our weaknesses and suffering. But the spirit does more than groan. He prays for us in His groaning so that we might be led into the will of God.

vs. 28 all things work together for good. Paul has been discussing the perceived tension between human experience and divine promise. He assures believers that God is working out the ultimate good. We win in the end!

Illustration: Don’t you always wish you could fast forward to the end of a movie or book and find out how everything turns out? With God work it has already been pre-determined and it will all work out for the good.

Faithlife Study Bible Why a Good God Allows Suffering

Romans 8:28 tells us that “all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Yet it is hard to believe lines like this when we witness baffling, horrific events. The primary Old Testament illustration of Romans 8:28 is Genesis 50:20. In that story, Joseph’s brothers betray him and sell him into slavery. Decades later he tells them, “As for you, you planned evil against me, but God planned it for good, in order to do this—to keep many people alive—as it is today” (Gen 50:20).

5 Arguments for the Security of the Believer

1. God is For us.

v. 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.

There is a perceived tension between the human experience and the divine promise!

*God is working for the ultimate good.

What matters is not what is against you, but who is for you.

What matters is not what is against you, but who is for you.

*The Father is for us and proved it by giving His Son ().

God is Making all things Work together for us:

The Father is for Us - The Son is for Us - The spirit is for us.

The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Seven: Freedom and Fulfillment (Romans 8)

In His person and His providence, God is for us. Sometimes, like Jacob, we lament, “All these things are against me” (Gen. 42:36), when actually everything is working for us. The conclusion is obvious: “If God be for us, who can be against us?”

There is no need to fear

God desires only what is best for His Children.

Matthew 7:9–11 ESV

Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

We spend much of our time focusing on the things that are against us in life and not focusing on the one who is for you!

There is no condemnation because we share the righteousness of God and the law cannot condemn us. There is no obligation because we have the Spirit of God who enables us to overcome the flesh and live for God.

2. Christ died for us

v. 32 Future inheritance of believers

as children of God and co-heirs with Christ. v. 17

Argument from the lesser to the greater!

“If while we were still sinners, God gave us His best, now that we are God’s children, will He not give us all that we need? Jesus used this same argument when he tried to convince people that it was foolish to worry and fear. God cares for the birds and sheep, and even the lilies, surely He will care for you!

GOD DEALS WITH HIS OWN IN LIGHT OF THE CROSS, NOT ON THE BASIS OF THE LAW.

3. God has justified us (vs. 33)

GOD DECLARES US RIGHTEOUS IN CHRIST!

SATAN WOULD LIKE TO ACCUSE US!

We are God’s elect - chosen in Christ and accepted in Christ. God will certainly not accuse us since it is He who has justified us. For Him to accuse us would mean that His salvation was a failure and we are still in our sins.

Our Christian experience changes from day to day, but justification never changes.

we may accuse ourselves, and men may accuse us; but God will never take us to court and accuse us. Jesus has already paid the penalty and we are secure in Him.

v.30 Those whom God called, justified, and glorified.

God’s elect refers to those who have been chosen as children of God.

Faithlife Study Bible Election

Election is key for understanding the Bible’s grand narrative—the account of God’s plan to redeem and restore, through Christ, a holy people who had been lost in Adam. Unfortunately, election has also been at the center of considerable disagreement in biblical interpretation and theology.

Election to Salvation is Corporate and Individual.

Faithlife Study Bible Election

The Bible describes election as both corporate and individual. Following the account of God’s good and glorious creation, the Bible presents the story of human rebellion and alienation from their Creator (Gen 3). By Genesis 12, we see God’s strategy for redemption taking shape: God chooses Abram (Abraham) and promises that through him all the nations will be blessed (Gen 12:2–3). In doing so, God essentially embraces all of Abraham’s offspring (Gen 13:16); Abraham will be the father of the Israelites and, eventually, of all who trust in God as Abraham did. Numerous Old Testament references reiterate God’s gracious choice of Israel to be His people, such as: “You only have I chosen of all the clans of the earth” (Amos 3:2). Another example comes from Deuteronomy: “It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you … but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers” (Deut 7:7–8).

Faithlife Study Bible Election

Yet God’s election of Israel as His chosen people did not equate to the personal salvation of every Israelite. That required a heart commitment to God (Isa 29:13). Why might some ethnic Jews forfeit the salvation obtained by Abraham? In Paul’s words, “Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if by works. They stumbled over the stone that causes people to stumble” (Rom 9:32).

NT teaching on election stands in continuity with the OT, but with a crucial shift - one that was anticipated by the OT prophets: God’s chosen are no longer identified by ethnic or national markers, but spiritually by faith. No longer outward circumcision but now inward circumcision of the heart by the spirit. Both Jews and Gentiles who believe in Jesus are the true children of Abraham.

ELECTION: Are people believers because they are elect, or elect because they believe?

God 1st loved us, God first set his affection on us. While we were still dead in our sin Christ died for us. This is at the heart of the gospel. People are dead in sin and if left to themselves, they cannot and will not embrace God’s gift of salvation apart from God’s own enabling power.

The people of God are called to be holy and to participate in His mission of reconciling the world to Himself.

Whichever approach you choose to take in the doctrine of election it should always lead us to praise God, like Paul does, for graciously choosing-even before the foundation of the world - to love us and save us in Christ.

God’s election flows entirely from His grace, human beings are moral agents responsible for our actions, and our personal participation in the community of the elect is by faith alone!!!!!

4. Christ intercedes for us (34)

Dual intercession for us.

the spirit intercedes, and the Son of God intercedes (). The same Savior who died for us is not interceding for us in heaven as our High Priest.

Hebrews 4:14–16 ESV

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

He gives us the grace we need to overcome temptation and defeat the enemy.

intercession means that Jesus Christ represents us before the throne of God and we do not have to represent ourselves.

1 John 1:9–2:2 ESV

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

Jesus lives to intercede

Hebrews 7:25 ESV

Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.