In Him We Conquer Series

Introduction:

There was a little boy who got a new slingshot and went out to try it out. While he was trying it out, he took aim on grandma’s pet duck, and to his surprise he hit it and killed it. As you can imagine, the boy was horrified, so he took the duck and hid it in the woodpile. Just as he finished covering it up, he noticed that his sister Sally was watching. After lunch that day, Grandma told Sally to help with the dishes. Sally responded, "Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen today. Didn’t you Johnny?" She leaned over and whispered "Remember the duck." So Johnny did the dishes. The next several weeks were Johnny’s worst nightmare. It seemed like he was always at the sink, sometimes for his duty, sometimes for his sin. Whenever he would almost get completely fed up with it, Sally would remind him "Remember the duck." Finally, Johnny decided no punishment could be worse than a lifetime of washing dishes, so he confessed to killing the duck. Grandma was understanding. "I know you killed the duck. I was standing at the window watching the whole thing. Because I love you, I forgave you. I just wondered how long you would let Sally make a slave out of you." Johnny had been pardoned, but he continued to feel guilty because he listened to the words of his accuser. All of us know what it is to be beat up by our guilt over past mistakes. Our head tells us that God has forgiven and forgotten them but we lack the ability many times to let go of them. So the accuser uses this opening to continue to beat us around with our past. Many times this leaves us feeling defeated and hopeless. This last part of chapter 8 is quite stirring as Paul provides us with a word of great encouragement for when we come to those difficult times in life. Paul asks two series of questions that help us to bring the truths from chapters 5-8 into focus. Let’s examine what we can learn from this powerful passage.

I. Paul’s first set of questions are designed to cause us to draw a conclusion.

A. What shall we say about such wonderful things as these?

1. Paul is prompting the readers to draw a conclusion in regard to the material he has presented in chapters 5-8.

2. This question also requires us to examine how God has worked in our lives on a day to day basis.

3. Paul has presented us with the basics of the Gospel message so far in the letter, now the rhetorical question He asks calls us to apply them in our lives.

4. As we reflect on the resources that God has given us that Paul mentioned earlier in chapter eight, one can only conclude that God has provided us with everything we need to live the life to which we are called.

B. If God is for us, who can ever be against us?

1. This second question is basically saying if we believe that God is who He says He is, we have everything that we need to stand against anything that comes our way.

2. We should feel confidence building in our hearts because we can know for sure that through everything God is in our corner.

3. Even though there may seem to be no light at the end of the tunnel through Jesus Christ we have the victory and evil will not win.

4. The logic is full proof. If God is all powerful and nothing can overcome Him then being His children means that He will protect us and make sure that we win in the end.

C. Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?

1. Paul wants us to reason that since God has given His only Son as a sacrifice for us then He will not withhold anything that will benefit us.

2. The argument Paul is presenting moves from the greater to lesser.

3. This question also goes a long way toward showing us the depth of God’s love for us.

4. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16—NIV 2011)

5. When one weighs this evidence, how could we even entertain the thought that God has ignored us or forgotten us?

II. Paul’s second set of questions are designed to present detailed evidence.

A. Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own?

1. Paul is using courtroom imagery picturing the Christian as the defendant to illustrate that we have the assurance of the ultimate victory.