Prevail Completely Over Every Difficulty, Demon, And Even Death

In last Sunday’s Super Bowl, the Chiefs prevailed over the 49’s. The first three quarters may not have been especially exciting, but the Fourth Quarter and Over Time were something else! Last Sunday’s game was sure a lot more competitive than Super Bowl XXIV. In that 1990 championship game, the 49’s crushed the Broncos 55 to 10 in the most lopsided Super Bowl victory on record.

Have you ever pulled off a lopsided victory—a volleyball match perhaps or a basketball game in which your team dominated from start to finish, or a race in which you finished minutes ahead of everyone else? What about your life? Would you say that you are “crushing it” or barely managing to hang on? In our wonderful sermon text this morning, the Apostle Paul wants you to know that, thanks to God’s love, you already prevail completely over every difficulty, demon, and even death. Let’s find out how this is true, even though you may not feel like a conqueror. (Read text.)

According to the Apostle Paul, God’s love is always present though not always evident—like how the sun is always shining even if it is hidden by a cloud. Still, Paul quoted an Old Testament believer who complained that, because of the troubles he faced, he felt like a sheep that was being dragged off to the slaughterhouse and there was nothing he could do about it (Psalm 44:22).

You might not feel like a sheep bound for the butchers, but perhaps you feel like a guinea pig as your doctors prescribe this treatment and then that trying to provide some sort of relief. Or maybe you can relate to a stray dog that no one wants around. Coworkers demean your work. Family criticizes you so that you can’t ever seem to do anything right. Could these difficulties signal that you are not really loved by God? No. Listen to the Apostle Paul again. He writes: “If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:31-32)

The ultimate proof of God’s love for you is Jesus’ death on the cross. Think of it. Who was it that delivered Jesus over to death on the cross? Was it Judas who betrayed Jesus for money? Was it Pontius Pilate because he was afraid for his political career? Was it the Jewish leaders who were envious of Jesus? No, it was not any of these people who handed Jesus over to die. Rather it was God the Father who did that, says Paul, and he did so out of love. And you, my friends, no matter who you are, where you are from, or what you have done, you are the person for whom God did this. For Paul says that Jesus was given up for us “all”—no exceptions.

Ponder how deep God’s love for us must be that he gave up his holy Son in exchange for us sinners. That’s like handing over a diamond for a handful of cinder that we throw on the roads around here after it snows. It’s like handing over a brand-new Tesla for a broken tricycle. It’s like handing over a Van Gogh painting in exchange for a wad of used Kleenex. Who would do such a thing? God did when he handed over his sinless Son to death in order to save us sinners from a certain eternity in hell.

If God the Father willingly gave up Jesus to cleanse you from your sins and bring you into his family, will there be anything else that you need in life now that God will fail to give to you? No. Smart phone owners understand this truth. What’s the first thing you purchased after getting your latest phone? Wasn’t it a screen protector and a case? Why? Because if you spent hundreds of dollars on a smart phone, you were willing to fork out another $50 or so to protect your investment from scratches and cracks.

That’s what Jesus is doing for you now—protecting you from things that would shatter your eternal future. Paul put it like this as translated by J.B. Phillips. You can find this translation printed in your bulletin. As you follow along, circle the truths that you want to remember. “Who is in a position to condemn [us]? Only Christ, and Christ died for us, Christ rose for us, Christ reigns in power for us, Christ prays for us! 35-36 Can anything separate us from the love of Christ? Can trouble, pain or persecution? Can lack of clothes and food, danger to life and limb, the threat of force of arms? …37 No, in all these things we win an overwhelming victory through him who has proved his love for us. 38-39 I have become absolutely convinced that neither death nor life, neither messenger of Heaven nor monarch of earth, neither what happens today nor what may happen tomorrow, neither a power from on high nor a power from below, nor anything else in God’s whole world has any power to separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 8:34b-35, 37-39)