How can I be sure? You’re looking at the sign that says “Best Price Guaranteed” but how can you really be sure? So you pull out your phone and go to Amazon just to make sure that you’re really getting what you were promised. You stand there looking at a car or a new appliance. You want to make sure that you’re getting what is promised, and so you do you read reviews and take it for a test drive. You’re about to purchase a house, but before doing so, you want to make sure that your purchase is a good one, so you get a home inspection. You just want to make sure that you’re getting what you think you’re getting.
How about when it comes to heaven? Are there ever times when you wonder, “How can I really be sure that I’m going to arrive safely in the glory of heaven?” Remember what we learned last weekend in the verses leading up to the ones we’re going to study today. In Romans 8:29,30 the Apostle Paul wrote, “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified, those he justified, he also glorified” (Romans 8:29,30). Yes, God foreknew, predestined, conformed, called, and justified us for the glory of heaven. But how can I be sure that I’m going to make it to that glorious place? The sinful world can be so convincing people to compromise on what the Bible teaches. The devil’s lies can seem so good. After all, if a perfect Adam and Eve fell for the devil’s lies, what kind of chance do we stand? My fight against sin is not always so successful. The sinful world seems so strong and I feel so weak. How can I be sure that I’m going to make it?
That’s what this final section of Romans 8 talks about. It begins by reminding you of who is on your side. “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, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:31,32). What are you willing to sacrifice? Are you willing to sacrifice a few hours to watch a football game or to sit in a deer stand? You are if those things are important to you. You are only willing to give up something (time, money, comfort, personal desires) for things that are important to you. These verses remind you of what God the Father was willing to give up for you. “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all.”
When we think of the crucifixion, we naturally think of Jesus. Afterall, he is the one hanging on the cross and suffering. But have you ever thought about the suffering of God the Father watching his Son go through the crucifixion? If you are a parent who has had to watch your child be in pain, you understand how excruciating that is. You would do nearly anything to make that pain stop. God the Father watched as his Son Jesus willingly suffer the eternity of hell as he hung the cross. What must have made it even more difficult was that his Son had done nothing to deserve it. Instead, this was the suffering that was required for our sins. This was the death that was necessary for God to give you eternal life. That’s how important you are to God. He allowed his Son to be punished in our place so that we could be called his sons and daughters forever. If God was willing give up that much for you to have the glory of heaven, don’t you think that he is going to do everything in his power to make sure that you get it? If God was willing to pay that high of price, do you think that he is going to just let someone slip away from him? You are far too valuable to him to let that happen. Jesus sacrificed his life for you.
That powerful love that Jesus demonstrated for you in the past has not diminished one bit. Remember what Jesus is doing for you right now! Look again at verses 33, 34, “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died – more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us” (Romans 8:33,34). Whenever the devil gets the nerve enough to march into the throne room of heaven and call for your condemnation because of the sins that you have committed, Jesus is right there to intercede for us. He is doing exactly what God promised in John 3:17,18, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned” (John 3:17,18). Jesus is right there as our intercessor to plead our case before God the Father. And it doesn’t actually take much pleading, just some pointing. Jesus points to the empty cross and says to his Father, “It was there that I was condemned and punished for that person’s sin. There is no condemnation for those whom you have called to be your own through faith. My resurrection from the dead sealed the deal once and for all. There is only forgiveness, peace and life.” And what can the devil say in response? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. He retreats with his tail between his legs knowing that he has no hope of changing God’s mind about you.
While Jesus is winning in heaven, we might not always feel like we’re winning in this life. Paul asks the question, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered’” (Romans 8:35,36) People look at Christians and what they are willing to go through as followers of Christ and just shake their heads while mumbling, “What a bunch of losers. Look at their lives. Where is their loving God now?” When they see Christians giving up an hour to sit in church or giving hard-earned money to a church, or taking an unpopular stand based on what the Bible says about when life begins or what marriage is, people might look at you and say, “What a bunch of stupid, senseless, ignorant sheep, following a Savior that they’ve never even seen.”
If you’re looking at your life for evidence that the victory of heaven is yours or that God loves you, you’re looking to the wrong place. God does not promise us heaven on the way to heaven. Instead, listen to Paul’s answer to those who consider Christians losers because of the hardships they are going through. He says, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37). The phrase “more than conquerors” is actually a combination of words meaning, “hyper/super-victors.” This is not just your normal victory. This is a victory that goes beyond anything you could experience in this life. Where does this victory come from? It does not come from what some might call a “victorious Christian life” where everything is going well. Instead, it is a super-victory that comes “through him who loved us.” It is the victory that is ours because Christ was victorious. Regardless of how victorious you or others feel or appear, your life as a Christians – the troubles and hardships that you face –have absolutely no effect on the victory of heaven. That victory was won for you in Christ. It is safe in the confines of heaven’s trophy case just waiting for you to claim at the end of life.
With that Savior’s victory waiting for you, you can then look at the things you are going through, experiences that might seem pretty scary and powerful when you are the one going through them, and know that at all times the love of Christ is stronger. Look at the list found in the final two verses of those things that might seem to be able to pry us away from our Savior. Paul writes, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38,39). You have physical things (death nor life), spiritual things (angels nor demons) , time (present nor the future), any type of powerful thing (powers), space (height nor depth), and then the all-encompassing anything-else-you-might-think-of that could ever pull you away from Christ’s love (anything else in all creation). Paul’s looks at them all and says, “Christ’s love is stronger.”
You might picture it a of rope tied to something strong. When God the Holy Spirit brought you to faith, he tied you to God your Father with his love. Throughout this life there are plenty of things in this life that might feel like they are trying to pry you away from your Savior. But God’s love is stronger than any of them. God never intends for those things to push us away from him. Just like when this rope is pulled on, what happens to that knot? It actually becomes tighter and tighter. So also, God intends for those things to strengthen our connection to him. He intends for those things to draw us closer to him, more dependent upon his power and his strength, to become more aware of what is temporary and what is eternal, to lift our eyes from the things of this world to the victory of heaven that is waiting for us.
That’s why you can be sure that Christ will safely bring you to heaven. Jesus sacrificed his life for you. Jesus is interceding for you. Jesus has won the victory for you. Jesus’ love is stronger than anything else. Amen.
