Yet In All These Things Romans 8:35-37NKJ
5-year-old Johnny was in the kitchen as his mother made supper. She asked him to go into the pantry and get her a can of tomato soup, but he didn’t want to go in alone: “It’s dark in there and I’m scared.” She asked again, and he gave the same answer. She smiled and said, “It’s OK – Jesus will be in there with you.” Johnny walked hesitantly to the door and slowly opened it. He peeked inside, saw that it was dark and started to leave…and then an idea came to him and he asked this question: “Jesus, if you’re in there, would you hand me a can of tomato soup?”
If I were to choose a Scripture to sum up the believer’s life, it would be this one. It combines an intense realism with an amazing assertion of victorious optimism.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” 37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
E. Stanley Jones wrote: Note the word, “Yet.’ The test of any system is not what is does with the spiritual life, but with the material.”
Yet in all these things... The Hindu’s phrase is, “Beyond all these things.” The Muslim says, “Accommodation to all things.” The Buddhist says, “Disillusionment with all these things.” The Communist says, “Through all these things.” The Materialist says, “By all these things.”
However, as followers of Christ, we don’t ignore these ‘things’ moreover; we won’t be blinded by them either.
Paul is opened-eyed and frank to say, “Yes, I see the difficulties that come from distress, persecution, hunger, nakedness, danger of the sword, from death, from life, from things present, from the future- yet in all these things, or in the middle of all these things we are more than conquerors.”
One man said, “Reality continues to ruin my life.”
Romans 8:35-37TM Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture: They kill us in cold blood because they hate you. We’re sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one. None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.
In Christ Jesus, you are more than conquerors! This is a compound Greek word, which means to over-conquer, to conquer completely, without any real threat to personal life or health.
Listen to Jesus’ perspective on victory for this present world. Matthew 6: 25-26NKJ “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
Jesus and Paul agree, after taking in all the facts, and yet asserts the central fact of victory!
3 points to keep to heart.
*First, you are completely victorious through Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:57-58NKJ But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
*Secondly, You are who Jesus says you are, not because of people’s opinions, abundance or lack of.
Remember- ‘Things’ and ‘position’ don’t define who you are.
2 Corinthians 8:9NLT You know the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich.
*Finally, through it all, you win!
James 1:12NKJ Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
Hear this quote: I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. Michael Jordan
Benediction.
