Romans 8:31-39: DOUBT-FREE CHRISTIANITY
Have you noticed how often the word “free” appears at the grocery store? Everything is free! What I mean is this – you can buy milk that is fat-free. There are egg-beaters that are cholesterol-free. Special fruits and vegetables are pesticide-free. Different kinds of soup are sodium-free. Last week I bought some gum that was sugar-free. And my favorite one – the suntan lotion bottles that tell you in big letters: “This is paba-free!” I’m sure no one knows what that means.
We want products that are free of fat and cholesterol and pesticides and other bad things. What about your Christian faith? Is your Christian faith doubt-free? It is true, that the best kind of faith is a doubt-free faith. There are different things that contaminate your faith with doubt. Today, we are going to talk about these things. We’re also going to focus on the key to doubt-free Christianity.
Today is the first Sunday of Lent. Lent is a time when you are supposed to do some spring-cleaning in your soul – you are supposed to get rid of the things that don’t belong in your heart. Today, as we look at Romans chapter 8, our goal is to get rid of doubt that sometimes plagues your trust in God. May God bless you as you let him clean your heart and sweep the doubt away with his Word.
What are some things we doubt about God? Perhaps the most common thing we doubt is that he’s generous. We sometimes fall into the thinking that our God is a stingy God. “Look at all the things I don’t have!” we say to ourselves. “I don’t have this! I don’t have that! The Bible says that God is generous, but based on what I have in my life, I think he’s cheap!”
But look at verses 31-32: “What, then, shall we say in response to this? 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?” God has already given to the world an incredible gift, the biggest gift ever given – he sacrificed his own Son, in order to take away our sins. If God gave this huge, generous gift to the world, won’t he also, give to us some of the smaller things of life?
One of our members, whose name I won’t say, shared with me these same words a few weeks ago. For years, she has been praying to be healthy. “Please make me healthy, O God.” But God, in his wisdom, has not restored her to health. You would think that she would doubt God’s generosity. But her faith in Christ is strong, and a few weeks ago she put this passage into her own words. She said, “If God was willing to sacrifice his Son for the entire world, I know that he will take care of me. I am just one person, and even though he hasn’t made me better, he has given me strength and patience and joy and a stronger faith, as I go through these different things.” For her, the key to doubt-free Christianity was Christ: “Since God blessed the world with Christ,” she thought, “he will certainly take care of me.”
Why else do we doubt? Sometimes we doubt that we will be acquitted on Judgment Day. It’s an amazing teaching, isn’t it? The Bible teaches that after you spend your entire life sinning (and yes, you try to stop sinning but you keep sinning anyway) – after all that sin, you stand before God’s throne on Judgment Day, and God declares you not guilty. That’s easy to doubt, isn’t it? How can God declare me “not guilty”? The Devil will be there, reminding God of all the sins you have committed in your life. I don’t stand a chance, we say to ourselves.
But look at verse 33: “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns?” Even though Satan will try to bring charges against you in God’s court of law, God has already stated that he plans to acquit you. And the reason why is because of Christ: “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.” When you stand in God’s courtroom, Jesus Christ will be your lawyer. Look at his credentials – he died to take your sins away. He rose to life, which is proof that God accepted his payment for your sin. He is at the right hand of God the Father. While the Devil tries to bring charges against you – Jesus will be sitting right next to God the Father, interceding for you, and God will declare you not guilty. Do not doubt that you will be acquitted on Judgment Day. Remember what Christ has done and will do – he is the key to doubt-free Christianity.
But while you are on this earth, the Devil will try to get you to doubt God’s love. Since you are a Christian, the Devil plans to fire all kinds of missiles at you. As it says here, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” If the United States goes to war, we have all kinds of bombs we plan to drop on Iraq. The latest in technology – there is one bomb that is designed to scare you to death. It is so loud, so destructive, so intimidating – that wherever it is dropped, whoever survives will be psychologically devastated.
That is what the Devil is trying to do to you on this earth. Sometimes he drops the bomb of trouble on you. Or hardship. Or persecution. Christians of the past and present have experienced famine and nakedness. The Devil might place your life in danger. He wants you to doubt that God loves you, that God is watching over you, that he is with you always. “I doubt all of that” is what the Devil wants you to say.
But the Apostle Paul says the opposite: “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” The Greek actually says that you are a “super-conqueror.” And this is what you are through Christ, who loved you. These words remind me of a commercial I saw for the Marines last week. There was the marine, standing on a narrow bridge with a sword in his hand, fighting a fire-breathing dragon. Against all odds, he slays the dragon and walks away victorious.
This is how the Bible describes you. It seems that the odds are against you. The fire-breathing dragon is the Devil, and he is hurling one missile after another at you. But you are a super-conqueror. You overcome all these odds, not because you are so strong and smart, but because of Christ. He is fighting with you and for you. He is your strength. He is your wisdom. He has already defeated the Devil while he was on this earth. Remember that Christ was in the desert for 40 days, as our Gospel lesson describes, and there he conquered the Devil. The Kingdom of God had come. And it all became clear when Christ rose from the grave victorious on Easter morning. Do not doubt that you can conquer all the troubles of life. Remember that Christ has fought for you and won, and he is still fighting for you today.
Once again, Jesus Christ is the key to being doubt-free. Look at all the coalition forces the Devil is gathering against you: “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.” Nothing, no matter how devastating, no matter how intimidating – no matter what the Devil throws your way, nothing can separate you from the love of God. Why? Because the love of God is “in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
How much do you trust Super-glue? The makers of Super-glue used to have a commercial that showed a man wearing a construction helmet, and that helmet was glued with Super-glue to some sort of a board. That man was supposedly hanging from a very high place, and the only thing holding him to that board was Super-glue. Super-glue is a bond that will never fail – that was the message. Would you be willing to dangle 300 feet in the air, with nothing to keep you from falling except a spoonful of Super-glue on the top of your helmet? How much would you trust it? What if it would start to rain or to snow? What if it became really windy? What if it became extremely hot, 110 degrees? Would you have any doubts?
It says here that “nothing can separate you from the love of God.” Nothing. You are super-glued to the love of God. And that glue is Jesus Christ. He is what has bonded you to the love of God. And it is a bond that cannot be broken by anything. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the loss of a job, nor a terminal illness, nor the loss of a loved one, nor anything else in all creation – nothing can separate you from the love of God. You do not need to doubt. And the key to being doubt-free is remembering that Jesus Christ has bonded you to God’s love through his death and resurrection, and that is a bond that will never fail.
This Lent, let Christ sweep away those doubts that are in your heart. Watch him as he suffers for you. Watch him as he dies for you. Watch him as he rises from the dead. He has made everything right between you and God. Right now, he is at the right hand of the Father, interceding for you. He is the key to having doubt-free Christianity. This Lent, focus on him, and not yourself. Focus on his strength, and you will get stronger. Focus on his deeds, and yours will increase. Focus on his love, and you will become more loving. And through this process, your doubt will disappear.
It is true that we live in a world that is not doubt-free. The news is a good example. Lots of people doubt that Saddam Hussein is really cooperating with the weapons inspectors. But lots of people also doubt President Bush’s desire to go to war. Who do you believe? What do you believe? The news, the world, is filled with doubt.
How refreshing it is, to see that your faith is a sure thing. God will always be generous to you – you never have to doubt that. God will declare you not guilty when you stand before him in his court of law – you never have to doubt that. And you will always be bonded to the love of God, throughout your entire life – you never have to doubt that either. Focus on Jesus, and let him turn you into a doubt-free Christian. Amen.
