Introduction:
A. How many of you remember the Tom and Jerry cartoons?
1. Tom, the cat, was always trying to catch and eat, Jerry, the mouse.
2. The series was rather silly, predictable, and filled with slapstick violence.
3. In one of the cartoon stories, Jerry rescued Spike, the bulldog, from the dogcatcher.
4. Out of his gratitude, Spike told Jerry that anytime he needed help, to just whistle.
5. Jerry quickly learned how to call on Spike anytime Tom was after him.
6. It was amazing how bold and confident Jerry, the mouse, became when he had Spike there to back him.
B. This reminds me how bold my youngest sister used to be with the neighborhood bullies when she would declare to them: “If you don’t leave me alone, my big brother, David will beat you up.”
1. The truth is: when you have the right person for you, it doesn’t matter who is against you!
2. And really, that’s Paul’s point at the end of Romans chapter 8 when he says: “If God is for us, who is against us?” (Rom. 8:31)
C. The final verses of Romans 8 are many people’s favorite verses from Romans and from the Bible.
1. We often hear these verses read at funerals, and such a passage is certainly appropriate for funerals, but we must not miss the purpose Paul had for these verses in his letter to the Romans.
2. Paul used every rhetorical device in his arsenal to move his readers to a new level of confidence in God’s provision for His people.
3. Verses 31-39 are not only the crescendo of chapter 8, but are the climax and conclusion of this section of the letter reaching back to chapter 5.
4. Since chapter 5, Paul has been encouraging us to trust in our salvation and victory in Christ.
5. In chapter 8, Paul has been emphasizing the truths that lead to our victorious living and they include:
a. The Holy Spirit indwelling us (8:1-13).
b. Our honor position as adopted sons and daughters in God’s family (8:14-17).
c. Our glorious inheritance to look forward to (8:18-30).
d. And this final section speaks to the fact that God loves us and is on our side (8:31-39).
D. As Paul has often done in Romans, he launches his new direction with a question: “What then are we to say about these things?” (8:31)
1. What things? The things we looked at in our last sermon from Romans where we learned that God wants to turn our groaning into glory.
2. Paul then proceeds to answer that question in the form of 5 questions.
3. These 5 questions pile up, one after another – bang, bang, bang…like shots out of a canon.
4. These 5 questions summarize the love of God and the grace of God – all that God has done for us in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
5. They’re actually rhetorical questions, meaning: they don’t require an answer.
6. And these questions, with their implied answers, reveal some great truths about God.
7. The first one describes God as our protector.
I. God is Our Protector: Question 1: “Who Can Be Against Us?”
A. Romans 8:31: What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?
1. This is the question that the people of the world want answered.
2. Is there a God, and if there is a God, is he for us or against us?
3. When Paul says if God be for us, he’s not saying maybe he is and maybe he isn’t.
4. This verse can be translated “Since God is for us” or “Because God is for us.”
5. There is no truth more fundamental in all of God’s Word than this truth.
6. God is for us. God is not against us. God is not neutral towards us.
7. Because of Jesus Christ, once and for all the question is settled: God is for us.
8. All that God is, all that God has and all that God does, He does on behalf of his people.
9. Even those times when God seems to be acting against us, if we could only look behind the veil, even in those times, we would understand that God is for us.
B. Some Christians don’t understand that - They’re sure God is against them.
1. They feel like they’re in a game and God has decided that He’s going to be on the other team, and therefore oppose everything they want to do.
2. They see Him as peeved with them, down on them, looking for ways to make them miserable.
4. But that isn’t the way it is at all. God is not against us; He’s for us! He’s on our side. He’s on our team. He’s our friend.
C. And when you have a friend like God, you don't need to be afraid of anyone.
1. So, “Who can be against us?” Actually, there are lots of people who try to oppose us.
2. Satan is against us, trying to defeat us and destroy us.
3. Our old sin nature, our flesh, is lined up against us, trying to bring us back into our old slavery.
4. Unbelievers may be against us: jealous of our peace and joy, resentful of our rejection of sin.
6. So, Paul isn’t saying that We, Christians, don’t have any opponents.
7. Rather, the point Paul makes is that it makes no difference who is against us.
8. They cannot prevail so long as we are aware of the greatness of our God and that we are resting in His sovereign care.
D. Just list the enemies of the people of God.
1. Can the devil stand against us? No, because he has been defeated.
2. Can the world stand against us? No, because Jesus has overcome the world.
3. Can the flesh destroy us? No, because in Jesus Christ we overcome the pull of the flesh.
4. Therefore, let the people of God be secure and bold.
5. That's the truth of Romans 8:31, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”
6. That question reveals God as our protector. The second question reveals Him as our provider.
II. God is Our Provider: Question 2: “Will He Not Give Us All Things?”
A. Romans 8:32: “He did not even spare his own Son but offered him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything?”
1. This is the question of provision: Will God hold back anything that his people need?
2. Paul answers this by giving us an argument from the greater to the lesser.
3. Paul is saying if God has already given us his Son, if he’s done that for us, will he hold back anything else that we truly need? The answer is no.
4. If He’s given us His son, He’s given us the best that he has, so He’ll hold nothing back that his people need.
5. It’s the same argument Paul used back in Romans 5:10: For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life.
6. If God did the harder thing for us, He will certainly do the easier.
7. Consider this illustration: If you bought a very expensive watch for your spouse at an exclusive jewelry store, you don’t think the jeweler would deny you the box, do you?
8. Or if you gave your child a new bicycle for his birthday and the tires were flat, you wouldn’t deny him some air in his tires, would you?
9. If you do the greater, you will certainly do the lesser.
10. Do you think God is any less of a loving Father than we are?
11. If He gave the best that He had for our eternal salvation, He will certainly provide all we need to see us through to glory.
B. Did you notice that the text says “All things”? What a marvelous promise!
1. Paul is obviously not talking about material things.
2. This is not a rallying cry for the health and wealth gospel hucksters.
3. Remember it was Jesus who said that a persons’ life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses (Luke 12:15).
4. Certainly, God is going to supply our physical and material needs - He promised that (Matthew 6:33; Philippians 4:19).
5. But God never promised to cater to our greeds.
6. Paul himself had very little of this world’s goods.
7. Certainly, Paul is talking about everything we need to complete our salvation and make us ultimately like Christ – “glorified,” as he put it in Romans 8:30.
8. J.I. Packer sums up this great promise: “...one day we shall see that nothing - literally nothing - which could have increased our eternal happiness has been denied us, and that nothing - literally nothing - that could have reduced that happiness has been left with us” (Knowing God, p. 246).
9. So, this second question reveals God as our provider and the third and fourth questions reveal Him as our defender.
III. God Is Our Defender
A. Romans 8:33-34: 33 Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies. 34 Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more, has been raised; he also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us.
1. The next two questions both have the same general idea.
2. They take us into the courtroom where we stand before the divine Judge.
3. The prosecuting attorney is none other than Satan, the accuser of the brethren (Rev. 12:10).
4. But we have a defender, a legal defender, a counsel for the defense, Jesus.
5. Let’s tune in to the next question and see how He defends us.
B. Question 3: “Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect?” (vs. 33)
1. To bring a charge against is a legal term that refers to making a formal accusation, “pressing charges” in other words.
2. That’s exactly what Satan tries to do.
3. Just as he did with Job, Satan goes before the Judge and says, “You can’t let (insert your name here) into your heaven, Lord. Don’t you know what a sinner he/she is, what rotten thoughts he has in his mind, what unkind words come out of his mouth, what awful things he has done?”
4. Truth be known, Satan’s accusations are valid - Satan knows what we’re like.
5. But the point of the verse is that it doesn’t matter, because “God is the one who justifies.”
6. In other words, the Judge Himself has declared you and me to be righteous.
7. God did it with His eyes wide open, with full knowledge of all our sins and shortcomings.
8. If God has exonerated me knowing full well how rotten I am, then nobody, can challenge His verdict.
9. Satan has no court of appeal - He gets nowhere with his charges - The case is closed.
10. The next question is similar.
C. Question 4: “Who is the one who condemns?” (Romans 8:34)
1. Certainly there are many who try to condemn us.
2. Our own consciences try to condemn us at times.
3. Unbelievers will point their finger at our inconsistencies and try to condemn us.
4. And Satan is always there, leveling his charges.
5. As we all admit, we all have our shortcomings, we all fall far short of God’s perfection, but none of this condemnation sticks to us if we are in Christ.
6. Well, who is it that can condemn us and make it stick? The answer is no one.
7. Paul gives us a short course in Christology in just one verse: Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more, has been raised; he also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us. (Rom. 8:34)
a. Jesus died, Jesus rose again, Jesus ascended, and Jesus intercedes for us in heaven.
b. When Jesus died He paid the price for our sin completely and forever.
c. When Jesus rose from the dead, He defeated Satan once and for all.
d. When Jesus ascended into heaven, He was seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
e. Now that Jesus is in heaven, He intercedes for us.
8. When we sin, and when we are condemned by others, and even when we fail to meet up to our own standards, Jesus says, “Father, forgive them, may My blood cover them.”
a. The blood of Jesus is more than enough.
b. Who can condemn us before the throne of God? Nobody can.
c. Jesus, who lives in heaven, makes intercession for us.
D. Let’s remember how this chapter started: Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:1)
1. That sums up these first four verses and first four questions.
2. And if there were two words that can sum up the last question that occupies the last five verses, it would be NO SEPARATION!
3. This question reveals God as our keeper.
IV. God is Our Keeper: Question 5: “Who Can Separate Us from the Love of Christ?”
A. 35 Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: Because of you we are being put to death all day long; we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered. 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, 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 that is in Christ Jesus our Lord
1. Who can separate us from the love of God? The answer is no one.
a. This teaches us that Christ is not fickle! Those He loves, He loves forever.
2. Paul mentions a number of things that somebody might think can separate us from the love of God.
3. He starts with affliction.
a. The word means pressure.
b. Do you feel like you’re in a vise, and somebody’s screwing it down?
c. It can make you wonder whether God still loves you.
d. Doubt it no longer – affliction, trouble, pressure cannot separate you from Christ’s love.
4. “Distress” is the next word.
a. While the first word referred to outward pressures, this one probably refers to inner turmoil.
5. “Persecution” is the next thing mentioned, and it was a constant threat to the early church.
6. “Famine” is a scarcity of food, some people don't know where their next meal is coming from.
7. “Nakedness” simply refers to a lack of adequate clothing.
8. “Danger” is a general term we are all familiar with.
9. “Sword” stands for a violent death.
B. When Christians face these things, they may ask the questions: “How could God allow this to happen to me if He really loved me? Why doesn’t God love me anymore?”
1. Paul wants us to understand that Christians are going to face all kinds of troubles, but those troubles don’t separate us from God’s love and are not an indication that God doesn’t love us.
2. I don’t know where we get the idea that Christians aren't supposed to have any problems.
3. Paul quotes a verse from the Psalms (Psalm 44:22) to explode that misconception: As it is written: “Because of you we are being put to death all day long; we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered.” (8:36)
4. Trials are nothing new or unexpected for the child of God.
5. They have been part of the lives of God's people since time began.
6. Some have even lived with the daily threat of death, which is what this verse is talking about.
7. But far from being able to separate us from the love of Christ, trials are our means to greater triumph.
C. The next verse says: No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (Romans 8:37)
1. Notice those 5 words: “we are more than conquerors.”
2. That’s five words in English, but in Greek it’s only one word.
3. The word literally means “super-conquerors,” or “super-overcomers!”
4. And notice that it says that we are super-overcomers “in all these things” – in the midst of these things, not by deliverance from these things, but “in” them while we experience them.
5. Biblical scholar William Hendriksen wrote: “A conqueror is a person who defeats his enemies. So a super-conqueror would be a person who causes his enemies to become his helpers” (Hendriksen, 293).
6. These trials we face, not only do not destroy us when know that God is for us, they help us.
7. They become our friends that help us grow stronger and more courageous in our faith.
D. Paul reaches his conclusion in verses 38 and 39: 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, 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 that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1. Notice how Paul ends with a personal testimony, he wrote: “for I am persuaded…” and Paul speaks from experience.
2. Then Paul covers the gamut - he doesn’t leave anything out.
a. Some people are afraid of death.
b. Others are afraid of life, with its uncertainties and sorrows, its hardships and its disappointments.
c. But neither one can shake us when we know that God is for us.
d. Good angels are certainly not going to try to separate us from God’s love.
e. And evil angels (or rulers, principalities) cannot separate us from God’s love.
f. In fact, no power in heaven or on earth can do it.
g. Time is powerless against us, whether the present with its problems, nor the future with its uncertainties.
h. “Height” and “depth” were astrological terms - the ancients were terrified by the tyranny of the stars (Barclay, 124), as are some people today.
i. But they cannot affect our lives. “nor any other created thing…”
3. Have we missed anything? I don’t think so! Paul covered all the bases.
4. In the end, nothing, absolutely nothing, can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
E. Brothers and sisters, God loves us and He’s on our side.
1. Nothing can touch our lives that does not first pass through His protecting shield of love that surrounds us.
2. Remembering that can help us live triumphantly in times of trial as well as times of temptation.
F. And no one knew that better than Horatio and Anna Spafford.
1. I have shared their story before, but it’s worth repeating.
a. The Spaffords lived in Chicago toward the end of the 19th century.
b. He was a wealthy Christian lawyer who supported the evangelistic campaigns of D. L. Moody.
c. His wealth was heavily invested in Chicago real estate, however, and then came the devastating Chicago fire of 1871, that destroyed most of his holdings and wiped out much of his wealth.
d. He still had his wife and four fine daughters, and a comfortable income.
e. And he never stopped believing that God loved him.
2. Looking for an opportunity to get away and rest for awhile, he booked passage for his family and himself on a ship to England, where he planned to assist Moody in an evangelistic campaign.
a. Last minute business matters kept him behind, but his wife and daughters went on ahead.
b. On the voyage, their ship was struck by another and sank in twelve minutes.
c. He received a telegram from his wife: “Saved alone.” His four daughters were gone.
3. Spafford left immediately to join his grieving wife in England and comfort her.
a. When he reached the place where the ship had sunk, he began to write down his feelings, which were later arranged into a hymn: number 490 in our hymnal.
b. When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea-billows roll –
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul.
(Sorrows, you see, cannot separate us from Christ's love.)
c. Tho Satan should buffet, tho trials should come, Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate, And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
(Satan’s blows do not separate us from the love of Christ.)
d. My sin - O the bliss of this glorious tho’t - My sin, not in part, but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more; Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
(Not even our sin cannot separate us from His love.)
e. And, Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight, the clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump will resound and the Lord shall descend, “Even so” - it is well with my soul.
(Our souls cry out, speed the day, Lord, when we will experience the completion of our salvation you have assured us of.)
4. Horatio Spafford was a “super-overcomer.”
a. He knew that God was for him, even through his bitter trials.
b. If we have given our lives to Christ as our Savior and Lord, then we too can know that God is for us and that nothing can separate us from God’s love.
c. And because of that we too can be a “super-overcomer,” no matter what we face, it can be well with our souls.
Resources:
Romans, The NIV Application Commentary, by Douglas Moo
Romans, The Bible Exposition Commentary, by Warren Wiersbe
If God Is For Us, Sermon by Richard Strauss
More Than Conquerors, Sermon by Ray Pritchard
