Sermon Tone Analysis
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Introduction
Think of a movie that you were waiting for months and months to see (Avengers: Endgame comes to mind for me).
You’ve invested time and you’re about to invest some money in order to watch this movie at the movie theater.
Having a wife who has worked at a movie theater for years now, I can personally attest that it is next to impossible to go to a 2+ hour long movie without getting concessions.
So you spend $10 on your ticket and another 10-15 on concessions just to see this movie that you’ve been waiting so long to watch!
How would you feel if as soon as you walk into the movie theater, someone told you the ending?
You’ve already paid for everything, you’ve been waiting for this moment for weeks and weeks and then someone spoils the ending for you!
You’d be upset at this point, right?
Let’s flip the script here for a moment, though.
Do you remember when you were in high school and had to write book reports or book reviews?
I remember having to do stuff like this and you’d begin to read your book and it would be next to impossible to read more than a couple dozen pages before wanting to throw the book across the room because it is so dry.
You would love nothing more than to be able to know the ending of the book in order to give your report and move on with your life, right?
Isn’t it interesting that we have different outlooks on books/movies based upon if we want to be doing something or if we are forced to do it?
As we continue our study through , we see that we already know the outcome of eternity.
This shouldn’t be a bad thing, though, it should bring about encouragement and hope to our lives!
We know that the battle is won!
We know that we have victory regardless of the situation we find ourselves in.
This should encourage us regardless of what we find ourselves going through.
Let’s look at what the apostle Paul writes in as he finishes up this chapter with the climax of his argument, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”
What an awesome passage of Scripture!
We see Paul ask several questions in these verses and we will spend some time this morning looking at these questions as well as the answer that Paul gives!
What then shall we say to these things?
If God is for us, who can be against us?
The immediate answer to this question is that no one can stand against us if God is for us.
What is Paul talking about when he says “these things”?
Is he talking about what he talked about in ?
Yes.
Is he talking about as a whole?
Yes.
Is he talking about all the blessings ascribed to Christians in ?
Yes!
There are a plethora of blessings in these chapters of Romans!
We see in that we have eternal life, a gift of grace, righteousness and justification because of what Christ did for us!
In , we see that believers have life, freedom from sin, the hope of resurrection and eternal life.
In , we see that we are set free from the law, we are freed from our bondage to sin and we have joy in Christ.
Finally, in we have looked at the blessings that Paul ascribes to Christians as we are delivered from bondage!
We face no condemnation!
We are no longer slaves to fear but slaves of God.
We are adopted into God’s family and we are promised an inheritance!
Two weeks ago we saw that we have victory in Christ and we have the Holy Spirit who groans with us in our suffering.
Today, we saw that there is nothing that can stand against us if God is for us!
So what shall we say about these things?
We see that Christ is on our side.
He is working for us.
Does this mean that we will not face opposition?
No! Christ faced opposition, we will certainly face opposition, however we know that nothing can stand in the way of whoever God is for.
Have you ever heard of an unstoppable force and an immovable object?
God is an unstoppable force AND an immovable object.
If He is for you, there is nothing that can stop you or harm you (spiritually speaking).
If He is not for you (if you do not have a personal relationship with Christ) then He is an immovable object and nothing you do will move Him.
No amount of good works will cause God to move aside and allow you to enter heaven.
No amount of tithing or Bible knowledge will get you in.
What will get you in?
Having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Last week we celebrated the fact that our God did not spare His own Son.
He sent His Son to die the death that we should have died.
He bore the wrath of God and took our place.
He delivered His Son over to death so that we might have a way.
Our God is a relentless God.
Some will say that he is reckless (there are millions of love the song “reckless love”) however, there is nothing in God’s nature that is reckless.
It might not make sense to our finite selves, but God has a plan and a purpose.
He holds all things together and as we saw two weeks ago, He makes all things work together for our good (being conformed into the image of Jesus Christ).
So, if God is for us, if He gave His own Son, if He delivered Him for us all then how will He not freely give us all things?
He gave us His Son, the greatest gift of all.
He will give us all things along with Him.
So what are these “all things”?
Is it a billion dollars?
That would be wonderful, right!
Is it a new car?
That would be fun too!
Unfortunately, probably not.
Most pastors and scholars note that the “all things” in verse 32 refers to the blessings of salvation and the inheritance we receive as Believers.
We talked about some of these blessings from just a moment ago!
We also know that we serve a God who supplies needs.
We can all attest to a time in our lives where we were empty and God brought in satisfaction and fulfillment.
Where we were hopeless and God ushered in hope.
Where we were powerless and God brought in power by the truth found in His Word.
A God who sacrificed His own Son on our behalf will certainly not withhold good things from us!
By nature, God is a giving God.
Praise God for His gifts in our lives today.
Who will bring a charge against God’s elect?
God is the one who justifies!
In the Greek language, this phrase in “bring a charge” is in the future tense.
We know that there are currently people who bring charges against Christians, right?
We also know that there will always be people who bring charges against Believers.
We know that Satan has always done this and will continue to do this.
Not only does Satan try and bring charges against us, we also guilt ourselves and remind ourselves of our inadequacies, do we not?
It can be easy to buy into this lie as well!
We know that we are all sinners and we know our flaws and faults more than anyone else.
As the saying goes, “we are our own worst critic”.
This verse is beautiful, though, because it reminds us that no one can bring a charge against us as Christians!
No accusation will be effective because it is against a Child of God.
God alone is the one who justifies and therefore, no one can bring a charge against the judge Himself - God.
We squirm in our seats a little bit when we hear the word elect, do we not?
We saw a couple of weeks ago in that if God is in fact all knowing, perfect and before all and after all, He knows who His children are.
The word elect here is referring to His people - Christians.
We might feel uncomfortable with this word because we think that it restricts our “will” or “choice” in the matter.
What is important to note about is that this is simply not the context.
The context is that God has a chosen people.
In the Old Testament we saw that people to be Israel, in the New Testament we see that includes all people groups who call upon the name of Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
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