4 LIFE CHANGING WORDS
Romans 8:31-39
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P.S. God is for you
INTRODUCTION:
Illustration: Chippie the parakeet.
How many are Max Lucado fans? Max Lucado is one of the most prolific Christian writers of this generation. He can take the most complex theological thought, and with a simple phrase or illustration bring its truth to light for any reader of any age to grasp.
If you have read his books, than you have probably read about Chippie the parakeet.
"Chippie never saw it coming. One second he was peacefully perched in his cage, sending a song into the air; the next second he was sucked in, washed up, and blown over.
"His problem began when his owner decided to clean his cage with a vacuum. She had stuck the nozzle in to suck up the seeds and feathers at the bottom of the cage when the nearby telephone rang. Instinctively she turned to pick it up. She had barely said hello when--ssswwwwwpppppp! Chippie got sucked in. She gasped, let the phone drop, and switched off the vacuum. With her heart in her mouth, she unzipped the bag.
"There was Chippie--alive but stunned--covered with heavy gray dust. She grabbed him and rushed to the bathtub, turned on the faucet full blast, and held Chippie under a torrent of ice-cold water, power washing him clean. Then it dawned on her that Chippie was soaking wet and shivering. So she did what any compassionate pet owner would do: she snatched up the hair dryer and blasted him with hot air.
"Did Chippie survive? Yes, but he doesn't sing much anymore. He just sits and stares a lot. It's not hard to see why. Sucked in, washed up, and blown over! It's enough to steal the song from any stout heart."
Life is like that sometimes. You never see it coming, but life just sucks you up, washes you up and blows you over.
ILLUSTRATION: I have to admit that 2010 has been a pretty good year.
In January, I spent 7 days with Pastor Craig, Wendy, Rob Browuer, Chuck Price and a group of other pastors walking where Jesus walked along the streets of Isreal. It was awesome.
Then In April I turned fifty. My church put on a great surprise party for me that was so heart warming. What a great experience I will long remember and cherish for a long time to come.
Throughout this year, The Lord has opened opportunities to preach at a church leadership retreat and other church special services.
This summer the Lord provided for us to be able to purchase a new trailer. It is way larger than the old one and is everything we had trusted God for. The best thing was when it was delivered, the receipt said, PAID IN FULL.
What more can I say about this camp season. We have been so blessed with such outstanding ministry. Can you say AMEN!?
All in all 2010 has been a pretty good year.
Just as I am contemplated the goodness and faithfulness of God, the first night of Heritage camp the cell phone rings at 11:35 from our daughter Esther.
How many know that a call from your daughter at 11:35 p.m. is rarely good news.
Esther’s voice was panicked as she told Sue, her grandfather left a message on the phone, that the doctors had discovered cancer.
One week later, that diagnosis turned terminal.
One week after that another phone call comes that Sues dad had collapsed and was in Brockville General Hospital. A few days after this, he is sent home to undergo palliative care.
It’s funny how life is like that. One minute you are riding a wave of blessing, and the next minute, one phone call and one word can change everything.
When you experience those unexpected challenges of life, then you have no doubt asked some of the questions I have asked,
• God, what have I done to deserve this?
• God where are you, and why don’t you answer my prayer?
• God, Is there any hope?
When Paul wrote this letter to the believers in Rome, the readers were asking the same questions you and I ask when life seems unbearably hard.
All they wanted to do was to live their lives faithfully for Jesus, and the harder they tried the more difficult the challenges and hotter the furnace of affliction.
Like Chippie, they felt as if they were knocked down, washed up, and blown over.
In this chapter, Paul makes clear our victory in Christ. He summarizing this fact with a series of rhetorical questions, beginning with ‘31What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be[a] against us? ‘
Now, Paul is not casting doubt on whether or not God is for the believer. He is using a traditional rabbinical method of teaching in order to bring home the undeniable fact,
GOD IS FOR US!
Say that with me, GOD IS FOR ME. Turn to someone and tell them, GOD IS FOR YOU.
This is not a question of doubt. The Greek word for “if” in this case, doesn’t mean that God being for us is a possibility. Instead, it’s a certainty. It states, God IS for us!
Doesn’t it make a difference if you know someone is for you? What does look like that God is for you?
When God is for you, your past does not CONDEMN you.
Joseph was a young man simply doing his fathers biddng. When he turned around, his own brothers betrayed him and sold him into slavery.
Then while simply doing his job, he is falsely accused of rape, and imprisoned without trial.
To make matters even more unbearable, when he helps a friend he is forgotten by the very one he helped get out of prison and is left to languish.
For 20 years he waited for God to fulfill His promise of destiny. For all his faithfulness, it seemed Joseph received only trouble in return. How would you respond? Would you still feel like following the Lord after 20 years of tribulation and lonliness?
Years later after he had be taken from prison and promoted by the king to be Prime Minister of Egypt, he came face to face with his brothers.
When they realized it was Joseph, they were afraid that Joseph would not take his vengeance.
Rather than get even with those who had betrayed him, falsely accused him and forgotten him, Joseph extends his hand of forgiveness to them. You will remember what he said to his brothers in Genesis 50:19-20
"Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. 21 So then, don't be afraid.
How could Joseph do that? It is because he knew that GOD WAS FOR HIM.
When you know God is for you, YOUR PRESENT PROBLEMS DON’T DISCOURAGE YOU.
Job probably had every reason to blame God and the Devil for his problems. He was a righteous man who in one day lost his children, his livelihood, and his health.
Many would have succumbed to his wife’s criticism to curse God and die. But Job never lost his integrity. In fact, while his friends were trying to find every reason as to why Job was being afflicted, he responds by declaring in Job 23
8 "But if I go to the east, he is not there; if I go to the west, I do not find him. 9 When he is at work in the north, I do not see him; when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him. 10 But he knows the way that I take;
when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold
How could Job retain so much hope? It is because he realized that no matter what he experienced in life in through it all, GOD IS FOR ME!
When you know God is for you, YOUR FUTURE DOES NOT SCARE YOU.
Jeremiah has faithfully preached and prophesied God’s word for decades, hoping beyond hope that his people would listen and repent. Saddly, after 40 years of preaching, not one convert was recorded in his yearly ministry report.
The city had been vanquished by the Babylonian army. Only a handful of discouraged people remained. It appeared all hope for Isreals future was gone.
You would think that in this dark hour, when hardly a soul is left in the city, Jeremiah would simply close the church doors, hang up his Bible and go play golf somewhere.
Even in the midst of extreme despair and hopelessness, Jeremiah sings this triumphant song, found in all places, Lamentations 3:19-25.
I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. 20 I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. 21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: 22 Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24 I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." 25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;
I remember singing that chorus as a teenager during Youth Camp. And it is still true
GOD IS FOR YOU!
At the close of chapter 8, the Apostle Paul ends his discourse with a triumphant song, declaring emphatically “God is for us!”
He did not say that God was, or that God will be, nor did Paul say that God might be. Paul said that God is—that means God is right now for you. There is no waiting. There will be no probationary time limit. There is no small print to wade through. Right now, God is for you.
How can I know for sure that God is for me? Well to begin,
1. HIS PROOF IS INDISPUTABLE
THE CROSS IS PROOF THAT GOD IS FOR US: (32,34)
32God did not keep back his own Son, but he gave him for us…. Christ died and was raised to life, and now he is at God's right side, [a] speaking to him for us.
All that we need and receive from God comes to us as a result of His grace that was displayed on the cross.
Because God loves us, He cares for us, and above all, God is for us. The cross is the unspeakable, undeniable proof that God is for you. The Bible declares:
Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
1 Peter 3:18 “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God…”
The problem we have with the idea that God is for us, is that we’re so familiar with our failures.
GOD IS FOR YOU DESPITE YOUR FAILURES( 34 )
In fact we lost count how many time we’ve failed. You see, God does not keep score. If God were to keep score of all of our failures, well what can I say to that?
And so, the devil will whisper to you saying in your heart: “God might be for other people, but you’ve done too much wrong. You’ve made too many mistakes; you’ve made too many poor choices. I can’t really believe that God would be for you … because God knows all about you.”
And of course, Satan is right. However, he is blind to one fact. Not only is God for us. Not only did Christ die for us, but now in Christ we are JUSTIFIED.
33Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect?(D) It is God who justifies.
This speaks of our present standing before God. While Satan stands in accusation against us, the Lord Jesus stands in our place and as a result of seeing the shed blood, the Father looks and sees Jesus and therefore pronounces us justified.
Since Jesus has died for us and the Father has justified us, our PAST IS COVERED. There is therefore now NO CONDEMNATION to those who are in Christ Jesus!!!!!!!!!
Not only does the cross shout the truth God is for us, His present work of intercession reminds us that
2. His promise is ENDURING
Not only did Jesus die, not only are we Justified but Jesus is presently interceding for us!!!!
34(E) Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—(F) who is at the right hand of God,(G) who indeed is interceding for us.
The same Savior who died for us rose from the dead, and today, RIGHT NOW is interceding for us in Heaven.
Intercession means that Jesus Christ represents us before the throne of God. In Hebrews 7:25 we are told,
25Consequently, 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.
God has not left us to the designs of Satan, He didn’t save you to let the devil have you again.
Jesus is interceding for you, so that you will grow in the Lord, that you will be complete in living for Jesus. We are still human, and we are still fighting against the flesh, we will make mistakes, we will falter at times, we will become discouraged at times, that is part of the human, fleshly side that we must deal with, yet Jesus is on our side, praying for you, upholding you with His arms, so that you can make it through.
Where are you leaning to find strength today? Are you struggling today needing help? Are you in need of grace in your time of need? Are you wondering, "Can I make it through?" By your self you will fail, but remember, "He ever lives to make intercession" for you. The Greek means He is always alive and will always be alive, to make intercession for you. He ever lives to make intercession.
Eugene Peterson in the Message I think grasps the meaning of this verse in his translation,
But Jesus' priesthood is permanent. He's there from now to eternity to save everyone who comes to God through him, always on the job to speak up for them.
Did you get that. Jesus is always on the job. Always aware. Always at work. Always FOR US.
Now I do not have a problem with understanding the fact that God cannot and will not fail me. But what about those times, when life just gets to difficult, and I fail Him?
In verse 32 we are given the assurance that
3. His love is EVERLASTING
God is for you, and has great plans for your life, and nothing this world can throw at you will change it. (8:32, 34-39).
From verse 32 comes the promise that God will "graciously give us all things?" Another translation says, "He freely gives us all things." Still another translation says, "He will lavish upon us all he has to give." Another says, after giving His Son, "is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us?"
If God has great plans for me, then what about my Cancer? What about me son/daughter that is away from God? What about my business that is going bankrupt?
To begin with, we know that God does not shelter us from the tribulations and trials of life. But He does give us several assurances to support us as we go through them,
In Romans :28, God assures us that the difficulties of life are WORKING FOR US not against us. God permits these trials to come that we might use them for our good and His glory.
Furthermore, the bible assures us that we endure trials ( 36) and since we do, do we think that God will desert us? Of course not! Instead, He is closer to us when we go through the difficulties of life.
His LOVE GOES DEEPER THAN OUR PAIN!
Finally, verse 27 assures us that God gives us the power to conquer. You have no doubt heard it said that we are ‘SUPER CONQUORERS) through Jesus Christ!
He gives us victory and more victory! God is for you!
Doesn’t it make a difference if you know someone is for you? Take a moment, and savour every word. God is for us!
• Your family may have turned their backs on you
• Your child may have disappointed you
• Your job may have become redundant
• Your marriage may be on the rocks
• Your life might be full of problems
Listen carefully, “God is for us!”
• The maker of the mountains is for you.
• The One who laid the floor of the oceans is for you.
• The one who scattered more than 100 billion stars over 100 billion galaxies, in what scientists say is a length of more than 30 million light years with a playful toss of his hand is for you!
God is the umpire in the game of your life. He is the one coming to you just before you are about to make a move or take a step or make a decision that will affect the rest of your life, and He’s encouraging you, telling you that He knows you can do it ... and when you take the step of a life time, you really believe you can, because God is for you.
God knows your favourite food, your favourite way to spend an afternoon, and He wants to overwhelm you with good things. He is for you!
The Prophet Isaiah made this amazing statement: “See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands…” (Isaiah 49:16)
God has got your photo on His refrigerator. That is your birthday on His calendar. you are the kid He’s bragging on. He would say, hey, look at my son, look at my daughter!
So, what does this mean to me right now?
ILLUSTRATION: Getting lost in the Old City of Jerusalem.
The tour leader told us that we wold be meeting at the fountain in the middle of the square and leaving PROMTL:Y at 1:30p.m. for our next location…. I got distracted and went for another round of shopping….Lost time…team was GONE!
Followed crowd down wide roadway…turned left and right…panicked and could not remember where I was supposed to go…two soldiers found me and gve me directions…Don’t turn left or right, go STRAIGHT!...found my way ourt by listening to the right instructions…found my way back to hotel…guide phoned and met me and took me to the garden tomb.
As I thought of this experience, I realized if I had simply listened to the voice of my guide I would have never gotten lost. It when I was lost, instead of panicking, had remained still and followed the signs, I would have found my team.
God has given us His Spirit and His word in order that we can know what voice to follow.
Which voice are you listening to?
Voice of CONDEMNATION says you have blown it and your past disqualifies you
God says, I AM FOR YOU, There is therefore now NO CONDEMNATION. I’ve got your past covered. FORGET IT!
Voice of DISCOURAGEMENT says, “there is to much trouble, I am too tired to go on, I cannot do it anymore. I cannot go any further.
God says, I am For You. I am INTERCEDING for you. I am with you right now. Your present problems are no match for my love for you. DON’T FRET IT.
The voice of DESPAIR says, there is NO HOPE. You have blown it. There is no futre for you.
God says, My Love for you is DEEPER than your pain. My purpose for you is wider thanyour problems.. I have caused you to be a super conquer. BE FATHFUL
In view of the fact that God is for you, Eugene Peterson summarizes in the Message
31-39So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? … The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us.
