Text- Romans 8:28-39
Title- The Benefits of New Life- Victory
Romans 8:28-39 28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. 29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; 30 and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. 31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? 33 Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; 34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. 35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 Just as it is written, "FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED." 37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I. Victory in all circumstances- vs. 28
a. God works the details of our life out for good
II. Victory is pre-ordained- vs. 29-30
a. God had a plan from the very beginning
III. Victory through Jesus Christ- vs. 31-34
a. We are conquerors through Him
IV. Victory over any enemy- vs. 35-39
a. No power can separate us from Christ
I spent a few days this week over at Silver Spur at pastor’s camp. I really enjoy this particular retreat because it is very laid back, very mellow. There is a speaker and a program, but there is plenty of free time to just sit and do nothing. Last year I opted to skip out on the speaker and take a nap a few times; and I didn’t feel guilty about it at all.
It isn’t really about listening to a speaker, but taking time to renew and refresh. This year however, I absolutely loved the speaker. His name was Andy, so you know he’s going to be good right off the bat.
It’s a difficult thing to speak in front of a group of pastors. It seems like some guys try to be extra intellectual or overly deep. The speaker this week really just had one simple goal, to encourage and uplift us pastors. I want to share just a little bit of his first message to us on Monday night because it really dovetails perfectly with the passage in Romans that we will be studying today.
Andy’s simple message was to remind us to be ourselves. He encouraged us not to get caught up in comparing ourselves to other pastors. He reminded each one of us that God has called us and prepared us and placed us right where He wants us.
Then he said this phrase that has been swirling around me for the past few weeks. I’ve heard it a couple of different times spoken by a couple of different people. He said, God doesn’t waste anything in our lives. All of the past events of our lives were a part of God’s plan to make us into the person we are today. All of the good and the bad comes together in a way that God controls. God doesn’t waste a thing in my life.
That’s not just true for me, or for other pastor’s, it’s true for every single one of us. We will all face some difficult stuff in our lives, but God doesn’t let any of that go to waste. He has a plan for you and for me.
On of the verses that we will look at today is Romans 8:28 which says, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
This verse is true for me and its true for you. I am not here by accident and neither are you. God has called you to the place you are right now. God has been taking all of the events of your life and working them for your good and for His glory.
I came away from my time at camp this week very encouraged and refreshed. I came away with a renewed sense of God’s complete and total sovereignty. He is in control.
For the past few weeks we have been talking about some of the great benefits of new life in Christ. We talked about the benefit of the Holy Spirit and the benefit of hope for the future. This week we will investigate another great benefit of new life in Christ, victory. As I mentioned a few weeks back, here in chapter 8 Paul is teaching about the third stage of our salvation, glorification. The victory that we now experience isn’t just a future blessing, but a present benefit as well.
The section of scripture that we will study today is full of these important truths for us to cling to. This passage should make us feel empowered and invincible. These words should almost make us a little smug. We have absolutely nothing to fear or worry about because of what God has done for us.
Follow along as I read 8:28-39…
I see four clear areas where we have victory from these verses. First, we have victory in all circumstances. Romans 8:28 is one of the most amazing, important, beautify verses in the whole Bible. I want you to memorize it. I’ve printed it in big letters on the back of your sermon guide. Put it on the fridge when you get home and think about it all this week.
I want to camp out here on this verse for just a few minutes because it is just so important. We have victory in all circumstances, in all things, because God works all things together for our good.
This verse is a declaration of God’s sovereignty and power. It is a revelation of God’s unconditional love. It is a promise of good in a world of bad. We should start each day by dwelling on this truth, remember this fact in the midst of every hardship, and praise God for this reality at the end of each day.
God takes the good and the bad and works it for our good. God takes all the evil, rotten, sinful stuff around us and turns it around. Every time Satan thinks he has won some kind of victory, God thwarts it by turning that evil into good. God is in the business of working all things together for our good.
Here’s an example from a newspaper story out of New Hampshire a few years ago…
“A temporary power outage on Friday was blamed on a man who chocked on a piece of food while driving.
Police say Ronald Tinker, 40, was eating chicken when a piece got caught in his throat. He choked, blacked out and veered off the road, taking down a wire that was supporting a utility pole.
The pole snapped, cutting power to several nearby businesses for much of the day Friday.
Tinker said the crash must have knocked the chicken out of his throat. He was taken to New London Hospital, where he was treated for minor injuries and released.”
Now choking, blacking out, and crashing your car into a power pole would all be considered unfortunate things. But God used those events to dislodge the chicken and keep the poor guy from choking to death.
Alice Tucker knew that I was about to preach on this passage, so she lent me this book she had been reading. It’s called Captured By Grace by David Jeremiah. If you are looking for a great Christian book to read I would recommend this one.
In this book Jeremiah dissects Romans 8:28 piece by piece. I love how balanced and simple he is in explaining this verse. Let me read a quote…
“As we explore the many implications of this verse, let’s say a word about what it does not say:
- It does not say that everything will work out the way you’d like, if you’ll only wait.
- It does not say that you can make things work out through positive thinking.
- It does not say that there’s no point in what we do, because God pulls all the strings.
It does say that God is in control, but that He will intervene in this world to use every event as part of His comprehensive plan- His plan, but your ultimate good. He is working all the time, in all events, for the good of all believers.”
In seminary I took a class on the providence of God. My teacher was a guy who tended to say things that were a little bit liberal or goofy. I don’t think he was a liberal theologian, he just like to think out loud sometimes and it would drive me crazy.
Anyway, in his attempt to argue against this hyper-Calvinistic view of providence he went to the opposite extreme and made the statement that there are some things in this world that are just bad and evil and not a part of God’s plan. There were some things that were just senseless and meaningless and not redeemable by God.
I was appalled by this assertion. I agree that there are plenty of events in this world that are not God’s desire; sin, suffering, disaster are not things that God wants to happen, but they do as a result of the consequences of sin. But I don’t believe that there are some bad events out there that God doesn’t use. I don’t think God wastes any event in our lives.
This verse is proof that we are conquerors. We have victory in every situation because God is in control. He is working in all things, not just some things, not just the really important things; no God is working all things together for our good.
David Jeremiah also points out that the promise of Romans 8:28 is conditional. God works all things for good for those who love God, those who are called according to His purpose. This promise isn’t for everyone, it’s for us. It’s for those of us who have experience this new life. It’s a promise that is made to God’s people. The benefit is just for us.
I love this verse. I love what it has to say about God’s nature and I love what it means to me. I will be victorious in every circumstance because God is working all things for my good according to His will.
The second area of victory that this verse deals with is that our victory was pre-ordained. This victory isn’t an afterthought, it isn’t an accident, it isn’t a whim. This victory was a part of God’s plan from the very beginning. Look at 29-30…
These are a couple of the most debated and controversial verses in the Bible. These verses are where the debate between Calvinistic theology and Arminian theology collide. These verses give us a glimpse into the work of God.
Regardless of where you come down one the whole Calvanistic/Arminian debate, there are a couple of things that are irrefutably true. First, God’s purposes will stand. God is in control. God has a plan of redemption that cannot be thwarted. If this weren’t true than what Paul says in 8:28 about God working all things together for our good couldn’t be true.
Second, victory over sin was a part of the plan from the beginning. Things are not out of God’s control. The victory that we now enjoy was something that God purposed from the start. There was never any doubt that God would be victorious.
Third, as we have already seen over and over again in this book, the work of salvation is secured for us by God. He does all the heavy lifting. This doesn’t negate our own human free will, but it should help us to understand that our free will is dependant first and foremost on God’s free will. Our desires don’t trump His desires.
I’d like to take just a few minutes to walk through these verses, because they are important. But I want to preface my remarks by saying that I understand that there are differences of opinion when it comes to how these verses should be interpreted. My desire isn’t to force a particular theological model onto the text, or onto you, but to simply read the passages for what it is and do my best to understand what it says.
Paul here is talking about God’s work in the life of a believer. He uses these 5 different actions of God. Let’s look at them.
1. Those He foreknew- This mean to “know beforehand”. This doesn’t negate our personal responsibility to accept Christ or take the necessary steps of faith. It does mean that God’s plan of redemption is based on His choosing us as well as on our choosing Him.
2. He also predestined- This means to “choose or appoint beforehand”. God has predetermined the direction and destiny of all who believe in Him. This verse says that we who are believers are predetermined to become conformed to the image of His Son. That is God’s pre-appointed will for all of us who are believers.
3. He also called- There is a difference between the outward call to believe that we hear from evangelists and preachers, and the inward calling of God that this refers to. The call to repent and believe by a preacher can be rejected, but when God calls we come. This might be better understood as the work of God to enlighten us or bring us to the point where we are able to believe. God did this in a dramatic way with Paul on the road to Damascus. Paul got the call and at that moment he had the desire and the ability to place his faith fully in God. God’s calling is usually a little more subtle.
4. Those He calls he also justifies- We already spent a lot of time learning about justification from earlier chapters in Romans. We know that Justification is being made right with God. We know that it is by God’s grace, not our works.
5. Finally, those He justified He glorified. Again I think this is the main point of this whole section, glorification. Our eternal security is derived from our understanding that God is in charge. He is putting all of these pieces together for our good to the praise of His glory.
I think the reason that this passage is so difficult is because it is one of those places where we try with our limited, finite human minds to understand an infinite and sovereign God. When we try to see things through God’s eyes we end up mired in all kinds of paradoxes and brain twisters.
Again, the main point that Paul is trying to drive home here in this passage is that we are victorious because of what God has done. Our victory isn’t just something that we look forward to in the future; in reality, the victory has already been won. We can enjoy the adventure because we know how it’s going to end up.
(I’m a big fan of the James Bond movies. I have seen them all a couple of times. Although I have to admit I’m not a big fan of the new guy they got. He doesn’t have enough of a sense of humor. Every Bond movie is essentially the same- pretty girls, chase scenes, cool gadgets, and a nasty bad guy. I know that at the end of the movie Bond will always defeat the bad guy. But even though I know who’s going to win in the end, I still enjoy the movie. I don’t worry too much when Bond is strapped to a laser or tied to a bomb because I know he’ll always find a way out.
The victory that we have as a part of this new life should enable us to enjoy life in the same way. We don’t have to freak out when things seem to go bad because we know that God will always work thing out for our good. We are already victorious.)
The fact that Paul’s main purpose is to remind us of our victory is clearly seen in the transition from verses 29-30 to 31…. “31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?”
The case that Paul has been making is that God is for us. He is on our side; He has been from the beginning. God is on the scene and we have absolutely nothing to worry about. This victory has been secured for us through the work of Jesus Christ. Look at 31-34…
Paul offers the sacrifice of Jesus Christ as another example of how victorious we are. If God was willing to give up His own son for us, why would he with hold anything. Obviously God has demonstrated that He is willing to give us everything we need. We are freely given all the things we could ever need.
Verses 33-34 are more great affirmations of our eternal security. “33 Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; 34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.”
Who dares to try and condemn those whom God has already justified? Who would dare to bring up our sin or our shortcomings or our inadequacies? Well, Satan often tries to bring a charge against us doesn’t he? He often tries to use our sin as a wedge between us and God.
But we have this great lawyer on our side. We have the greatest advocate in the world. Jesus Christ, who died, and was raised, and who sits at the right hand of God in power steps in and intercedes for us.
Jesus steps in and says to Satan, I have already paid the penalty for that sin, you cannot hold it against him. The work of Christ has brought us victory over death, victory over guilt, victory over sin, and even victory over any accusation. Because God is the one who has justified me, no one has the ability to condemn me. I am His, and I always will be.
Finally, Paul builds on this idea of victory through Christ by showing that we have victory over any enemy. Look at verses 35-39…
This is where Paul gets to the heart of the matter. Here is his application. His purpose is to encourage us to live victorious Christian lives because of the victory that has been secured by God. He illustrates that if we really understand that we are victorious that we not be bothered by anything that life throws our way.
We will be able to bear up under any trial because we know that nothing can beat us. We are conquerors. It’s almost as if Paul is specifically addressing the question that many people have- Where is God during the tough times?
Look at the first list in verse 35… “35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?”
When these things happen does that mean that Christ no longer loves us? When these things happen does that mean that we have fallen out of God’s graces? The answer is clearly, no way.
- Does tribulation separate us from the love of Christ?
- Does distress separate us from the love of Christ?
- Does going hungry mean that God doesn’t love us?
- Does being so poor that you can’t even afford clothes mean that God has turned His back on us?
- Does the threat of death separate us from Christ?
- Does death itself have any ability to change our relationship with Christ?
These things shouldn’t shake our faith in any way. In fact they are to be expected. That’s the meaning behind Paul’s words in verse 36. Suffering for Christ is to be expected, it will happen, it isn’t a problem. Paul had suffered a great deal for Christ, but he understood that it didn’t mean that God had failed him, or that he was a failure to God, no instead Paul says in 37 . “37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.”
Even in the midst of these difficult things, we are victorious; we are conquerors. Not just conquers, it says we “overwhelmingly conquer”. We don’t just squeak by, we beat the snot out of these things. It’s like the Lakers vs. the JV girls basketball team ad WHS. It’s a rout. It’s like me arm-wrestling my 4 year old daughter, I win every time.
Look at the second list in verse 38-39…
Just in case we’re still a little unsure of what he’s saying, Paul throws everything else into the mix.
- Can life or death separate us from the Love of Christ?
- Can angels or demons separate us?
- Can things in the present or things in the future separate us?
- Can height or depth separate us?
At his point it sure seems like the list is pretty comprehensive. But just in case someone might still have a doubt Paul even throws in “any other created thing”. OK, we get it, nothing can separate us from the love of God.
Again, one of Paul’s main points in explaining how victorious we are is to help us understand our complete security in Christ. Can anything anywhere at anytime ever separate us from Christ? No stinking way!
Notice how Paul covers the whole spectrum of time. In verse 28 we see how God is working all things in the present together for our good.
In 29-30 we see that this victory was secured way back in the past.
And in 31-39 he show that we will always be conquerors well into the future.
The victory is all encompassing and totally complete. Our confidence can never be shaken. We’ve already won, with God on our side, how could we lose?
