NOTE:
This is a manuscript, and not a transcript of this message. The actual presentation of the message differed from the manuscript through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is possible, and even likely that there is material in this manuscript that was not included in the live presentation and that there was additional material in the live presentation that is not included in this manuscript.
ENGAGE
I’m going to take this occasion to brag on my wife a bit this morning. She does not, like the stereotypical pastor’s wife, play the piano and sing in the choir. But what she does do better than anyone else I know, is to minister to children through her gift of teaching. As those of you who have kids know, she does that here at TFC by leading our children’s ministry, teaching almost every week in our children’s Bible Club and even filling in whenever the person scheduled to teach Children’s Church cancels at the last minute.
But as much time as she spends doing all of that, she spends countless more hours doing that in her vocation as a third-grade teacher. And by almost any measure, she does that more effectively than most, if not all, her colleagues. That isn’t because she is the smartest teacher, although she is very intelligent. It isn’t because she is the most fun teacher, although she does have a good sense of humor. I’m convinced that the reason she is so successful is because her students know that she is “for them”. She expects a lot from her students and she can be hard on them when they don’t live up to their potential, but she let’s them know all the time that is because she wants the very best for them because she is for them.
TENSION
I think all of us excel much better when we know that others are for us:
• The best marriages are those in which both people are for their spouses and they let them know that.
• The best parenting takes place in homes where the children know that their parents are for them.
• The most successful people in the workplace are those who have bosses who are for them.
• The most successful sports teams are those where the players know that the coaches and fans are for them.
• And as we’ll see this morning, the most successful Christians are those who know that God is for them.
So the message this morning is primarily for those who are disciples of Christ, who have placed your faith in Jesus alone. But at the same time, it is also a message for any of you who haven’t yet made that commitment.
If you are a disciple of Jesus, then the goal of this message is to help develop an unshakeable foundation under your faith – a foundation that will motivate you to live a radical life in which you are willing to take risks for the sake of the gospel and to bring the kingdom of God near to others.
If you’re not a disciple of Jesus, then the goal this morning is to help you come to the place where you understand why you need to make that commitment in your life.
So as I begin this morning, I want to ask you two questions that will help you evaluate which of those two groups you are in. I won’t ask anyone to raise your hand or answer out loud. These questions are for you to consider quietly and to answer to God, the one who already knows the answers because He knows your heart. These two questions come from a familiar verse we studied a couple of weeks ago – Romans 8:28. Hopefully you’ll remember that when we looked at that verse, we said that the promise there doesn’t apply to everyone. It only applies to those who love God and who are called according to His purpose.
The first question is:
Do you love God?
Obviously none of us are capable of doing that perfectly. So maybe I should ask that question like this: “Is God your treasure? Do you value Him more than anything else in your life?”
The second question may be a little harder to answer:
Have you been called by God according to His purpose?
I’m not asking if you’ve heard the gospel. I’m not even asking if you prayed a prayer and asked Jesus into your life.
In order to understand better what I’m asking here we need to go to another of Paul’s letters – his first letter to the church in Corinth. And in the first chapter of that letter, Paul wrote these words:
For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
(1 Corinthians 1:22–24 ESV)
We could easily spend the rest of our time on this verse, but let me just get right to the point. We see a clear contrast here. There are those who consider the crucifixion of Jesus to be foolishness. And every one of us in this room was in that camp at some point in our lives. But to those who are called, the cross is both the power of God and the wisdom of God.
To the unregenerate human mind, the cross will always be foolishness. It is only by the intervention of the Holy Spirit of God in our lives that we can come to understand the cross as the power and wisdom of God. That is not something that we can figure out on our own, no matter how smart we are. Only the call of God on our lives can bring us to that understanding.
So this morning if you believe that the cross is the power and wisdom of God, that is evidence that you have been called according to His purpose. And conversely, if the cross seems like foolishness to you, you have not been called.
If you have honestly answered “yes” to both of those questions, then the rest of this message will be a great encouragement for you. If you can’t answer both of those questions with a confident “yes” then it is my prayer that the Holy Spirit will use this message to bring you to that understanding so that you, too, can experience that encouragement firsthand.
TRUTH
The nine verses that we’re studying this morning are clearly Paul’s conclusion to everything he’s written up to this point in chapter 8 as indicated by his return to the idea of “no condemnation” with which he began the chapter. We’ll just work through this passage verse by verse.
He begins with a question:
What then shall we say to these things? (v. 31a)
So what are the “these things” he is referring to here?
Not all commentators agree on the answer. At a minimum, he is referring back to what he has just written about how all things work together for those who love God and are called according to His purpose and to the aspects of our salvation that Steve talked about last week. And by the way, he handled those concepts very well.
But it seems to me that “these things” is probably a little broader – likely either all of chapter 8 or even the whole section that began back in chapter 5. Regardless of exactly how far back Paul is going, the message here is clear:
You’ll notice that I put the words “for God” in quotes. That is because there are may ways that we could define that phrase. But I’m using it here in a very specific way to refer to those who can answer the two questions I posed earlier with a confident “yes”. In other words, if God is my most important treasure and I can say that Jesus crucified is the power and wisdom of God then I can say I am “for God”.
But what is interesting about this idea is that we can actually look at this concept from two different perspectives.
The first way to look at it is like this. If I am “for God”, it is only because God is for me. This is the idea that Steve talked about last week. Salvation is God’s work from beginning to end and if I am saved, it is only because God foreknew me, predestined me, called me, justified me and will one day glorify me. I bring nothing to the table.
On the other side of the coin, if I am “for God”, then I can know for sure that as I live my day-to-day life, God is for me. He is working all things together for my good – even those things which are painful and difficult.
Like Steve discussed last week, it is hard for us to wrap our finite human minds around the fact that both of these things are true at the same time because of the circular thinking that is required. But this is exactly what Paul has been teaching us throughout Romans 8.
If I am “for God”
God is for me
Paul uses a series of 4 rhetorical questions to drive home this idea. We’ll use those 4 questions and Paul’s responses to develop…
4 REASONS I CAN KNOW GOD IS FOR ME
1. He’s already given me His very best
Earlier this year, 36-year-old Kristin Day met a stranger in a bar in Nimrod Minnesota. After seeing a port in his arm that was used for dialysis and learning that he was on a waiting list for a kidney transplant, Day secretly underwent months of testing and found that she was a match. Last month, almost 6 months after they first met, Kristin Day donated one of her kidneys to that unnamed man. So it’s hard to imagine that after giving him one of her organs that Kristin would hesitate to help him out with something less demanding, like buying him a meal or giving him a ride.
That’s essentially the first argument that Paul makes beginning in the last part of verse 31, where he asks his first question:
If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (vv. 31b-32)
Paul is not saying here that we won’t face opposition in our lives. He had certainly faced more than his fair share. But what he was saying is that no one or nothing that comes against us will prevail over God’s purposes for us.
And he then buttresses that claim by pointing out that God already gave us his very best when He gave His own Son for us. So if God has already done that, what else that we truly need would He possibly withhold from us?
It’s important to keep verse 32 in context here because some have misapplied this verse to teach that if we just claim it by faith God will give us a bigger house, or a newer car, or a supermodel wife or a successful career.
But the “all things” here is connected to the idea that the good that God has purposed for us is to make us more like Jesus. The idea that God is “for us” cannot be separated from that context. God is not promising here to just give us anything we want. But He is promising that He will provide everything we need to endure opposition for the sake of the gospel so that we will ultimately share in Christ’s glory.
I can know that God is for me because He has already given me His very best.
2. He qualified me to be in His presence
When Mary and I took a trip last week, like every other passenger we had to go through a security screening before we were permitted to board our flight. And only those who had been through that security screening were qualified to enter the plane. As a passenger, I’m certainly glad that they don’t let just anyone on that plane because without that security screening it wouldn’t be safe to fly.
Well God also has a screening process to determine who has the right to enter into the presence of a holy God. And that is a good thing because I don’t know of anyone who loves God who wants to spend eternity in a place that would let just anyone in. But the problem is that on our own, every single one of us would fail that screening because of the sin in our life. Even just one sin would disqualify us from being able to have a relationship with a God who is 100% holy.
At the same airport, we observed certain people, like flight crews and other airport employees, who were permitted to enter the secured areas without going through the security screening. That is because they had a badge which indicated that they had been pre-screened and were therefore qualified to enter those areas.
That is essentially what God did for us through faith in Jesus. We see this in verse 33 with the second question Paul asks and in his answer:
Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. (v33)
If I attempt to enter God’s presence on my own, I will fail the screening every time because of my sin. And Satan, and perhaps other people would be happy to point out those sins to God and bring a charge against me.
But when those accusations are leveled, God answers those charges something like this: “When I look at Pat, all I see is the righteousness of Jesus. Because Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for Pat’s sin, Pat is welcome to enter into my presence and have a relationship with me.” As Steve talked about last week, that is all God’s doing. I have done nothing to earn or deserve that.
I can know that God is for me because he has qualified me to be in His presence through the righteousness of His Son, Jesus which has been credited to me.
3. He is pleading my case
If I were ever to be wrongfully accused of a crime, I know that if I went to trial, I would want to have a good lawyer to plead my case. And what would be even better is if my lawyer was the son of the judge who was going to decide my fate.
As we see in verse 34, that is essentially the advantage we have when it comes to the case others might try to make against us when we stand before God.
Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. (v. 34)
Here Paul returns to the idea that he began this chapter with. In verse 1 he wrote that “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”. And he now reinforces that idea with the rhetorical question he asks here – a question which expects us to answer “no one”. The reason that there is no one who can condemn us is that we have God the Son Himself who has risen from the grave to prove that His payment for our sins is adequate and who sits right now at the right hand of God the Father, interceding on our behalf.
So every time that Satan or anyone else tries to accuse us, Jesus is right there at the Father’s side pleading our case, reminding anyone who would bring a charge against us that He has already paid the price for our sins, once for all, on the cross.
I can know that God is for me because His Son is at his right hand pleading my case for me.
4. He won’t let anything separate me from His love
Up to this point, Paul has been making the case that God is for us and that means that no one can take away the salvation that God has provided for us. God certainly won’t take it away. No other person can take it away. And not even the accusations of Satan put it in danger. But what about our circumstances? Is it possible that our difficulties or trials could threaten to harm or destroy our relationship with God? That is the question Paul addresses in the last five verses of the chapter.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (vv. 35-39)
Paul spends more time on this last idea than on the first three combined. We know that the last 5 verses of this chapter comprise a single idea because this passage begins and ends with the idea of nothing being able to separate us from the love of Jesus.
Paul begins in verse 35 with a list of all the things that he and other Christians were facing in a Roman Empire that was openly hostile to Christians – tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, or sword. And then he quotes Psalm 44 to remind his fellow Jews that this was really nothing new for God’s people.
But none of those things, as painful and difficult as they are, in any way indicate that somehow God is against us and not for us. If I get terminal cancer, that is not because God is against me. If I have problems in my marriage or my kids turn away from God, that is not because God is against me. If I lose my job or struggle with my finances, that is not because God no longer loves me. God may not spare me from these things, but because He loves me, He promises to use them for good – to make me more like Jesus and to bring more people into His family.
In fact, because God is for us, we not only can survive these trials, we are more than conquerors because of His love for us. The phrase “more than conquerors” is just one word in Greek. It is a compound word that means “to prevail completely” or “to have complete triumph”. It means that we don’t just win, we rout all those things.
And then just to make sure we don’t miss the point, Paul gives us another list that is intended to show that there is absolutely nothing that can separate us form the love of Christ.
I can know that God is for me because He won’t allow anything or anyone to separate me from His love.
That is a great thing to know, but how should that impact my life? There are obviously a lot of possible applications, but let me close by suggesting just two:
APPLICATION/ACTION
MY APPLICATION
1. Make sure that I am “for God”.
I think that one mistake I often make is that I just assume that since I know most of you and you’re here on a regular basis that therefore you are a disciple of Jesus and that therefore you are “for God”. But I know from personal experience that it possible to think that you’re “for God” just because you’ve been in church all your life, or because you’ve read the Bible multiple times or even because you prayed a prayer and asked Jesus into your heart.
While all of those are good things, I hope you’ve seen this morning that being “for God” requires more. It means that you can answer with a confident “yes” the two questions that I started with this morning:
Do you love God?
Have you been called by God according to His purpose?
If you can answer “yes” to both those questions, then you ought to be on your knees thanking God every day for that because that is not something that you could have decided to do on your own. Only God Himself could bring you to that place.
If you can’t answer “yes” to both those questions, then I’d like to pray for you. While I believe that God can speak through me in the process of bringing you to the place where you are “for God”, I know that it is just not possible for me to convince you with my words to make that decision. Only God can do that and so I want to pray and ask Him to do that.
I almost never do this, but I feel led today that when we bow for prayer in just a few moments, I’m going to ask you to raise your hand if you would like me to pray for you. Nobody else other than our Elders will know you raised your hand.
2. Take a risk for the sake of the gospel
Most of the world makes many of its choices about how to live out of fear. And in our humanity, even Christians often do the same thing:
• We don’t take advantage of opportunities to share the gospel because we’re afraid that we might be rejected.
• Our finances are tight so we decide not to give or to just give a token amount because we’re afraid we might not be able to pay all our bills.
• We’ve never really worked with kids before and we’re not sure if we could really do that so we don’t offer to serve even though there is a need.
• We won’t commit to a Bible reading plan because we’re afraid that we might not be able to stick with it.
• We won’t commit to participate in a small group because we’re afraid that someone else might think that we don’t know the Bible as well as they do.
• We won’t pray out loud in a group because we’re afraid we might not use the right words.
But the fact that God is for me ought to change the way we think about these things. If God is calling me to do something for the sake of His kingdom, we can be assured that He will give us everything that we need to accomplish it. I know that this well-known phrase is a cliché, but it is nonetheless true:
God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called
So let me ask you this: What would you do for the sake of the gospel if you knew for sure that God is for you?
• Would you share the gospel, knowing that God has promised to give you the right words to say and that He doesn’t hold you accountable for how the other person responds, only for being faithful to be His witness?
• Would you give generously and joyfully, laying up treasure in heaven, knowing that God has promised to meet all your needs?
• Would you volunteer to teach our children, knowing that God will equip you to do that?
• Would you commit to read your Bible or join a small group, knowing that God will help you to do that?
• Or is there something else that God is calling you to do today.
As we pray, would you ask God to show you what He wants you to do, trusting that He is for you? And then will you write that down as a reminder? And if it involves serving somewhere here at TFC would you also let one of our Elders know about that?
INSPIRATION
Can you imagine what we could do as a church if we had a body full of people who knew that and who lived our lives based on that truth?
Discussion Questions for Bible Roundtable
1. Throughout this passage, Paul constantly uses the pronouns “we” and “us”. Why is that important for our understanding of the passage?
2. How do we know that verse 32 is not a promise that God will give us whatever we want? What does Paul mean by “all things” in that verse?
3. What does it mean when Paul says that God “gave him [Jesus] up? Why is that idea important?
4. In verse 38, Paul writes “I am sure…” Why do you think Paul had such confidence?
5. How does knowing that God is for us help us to live a life of obedience to Jesus?
