INTRODUCTION
• One summer night during a severe thunderstorm a mother was tucking her small son into bed. She was about to turn the light off when he asked in a trembling voice, "Mommy, will you stay with me all night?" Smiling, the mother gave him a warm, reassuring hug and said tenderly, "I can’t dear. I have to sleep in Daddy’s room." A long silence followed. At last it was broken by a shaky voice saying, "The big sissy!" http://www.christianglobe.com/Illustrations/
• 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 persisted. Finally she 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 it was dark, and started to leave when all at once an idea came, and he said: "Jesus, if you’re in there, would you hand me that can of tomato soup?" http://www.christianglobe.com/Illustrations/
• In life we have a lot of things we fear. When we were little, we may have feared things like the dark, storms or the neighborhood bully. When we get older, we may fear the same things but we may also fear for our jobs, finances, marriage, children, retirement, and the list goes on.
• We have a word for every kind fear; I found words for the fear of going bald and a fear of bald people. There is a word for the fear of hairy people too. You name the fear; there is a word for it. I saw a program once where people were afraid of frogs, they were even afraid to touch a stamp with a frog picture on it!
• On the surface the program was funny, but for the people suffering from the various fears, it is not funny. Fear to the extreme will freeze us in our tracks, it will keep us from doing things we should and need to do.
• One a different level, I believe we can get to the point where we fear what God thinks of us because of what has happened with other people or what has happened in our past. Maybe we think that bad times are a sign of God’s judgment towards us?
• Over the past few weeks, we have been spending time looking at the freedoms we have in Christ. Today we are going to look at Christ offering us freedom from fear.
• Two explorers were on a jungle safari when suddenly a ferocious lion jumped in front of them. "Keep calm" the first explorer whispered. "Remember what we read in that book on wild animals? If you stand perfectly still and look the lion in the eye, he will turn and run." "Sure," replied his companion. "You’ve read the book, and I’ve read the book. But has the lion read the book?"
• Today we are going to read the book. Are you being burdened with fear in your life? Maybe it is relational, financial, health, or circumstances. Today we are going to see we need not fear people, bad circumstance, or any potential problems!
• Jesus wants you to be free! Romans 8:15 (GWT) says, “You haven’t received the spirit of slaves that leads you into fear again.”
• When you belong to Jesus, you no longer have to be ruled by fear!
SERMON
I. WE NEED NOT FEAR PEOPLE (31-34) READ
• In the previous three chapters Paul has been trying to show us the depth of God’s love for us by showing us the many blessings we have by belonging to Him.
• In verse 31 it tells us, WHAT THEN SHALL WE SAY TO THESE THINGS? Because of all the blessings that have been mentioned in the previous chapters, how can we doubt the love God has for us, or that God is really in our corner?
• In life we face many different types of people, some will like us and others will not like us and will do whatever they can to make life miserable for us.
• In the context of the letter, there were many who were persecuting Christians and in the midst of that, it would seem to some that God had forsaken those who were being mistreated at the hand of another.
• In this verse 31 we are asked IF God is for us, then who can be against us?
• In the original text, the “IF” is not a doubting “if” as to question whether God is for us or not, but we would translate it “SINCE” God is for us, who can stand against us.
• This does not imply that we will have no opposition in life or that we will not have people try to impede our work for the gospel, but instead it tells us, in comparison to God, what are all these other people?
• It does not matter what position of power a person is in, they are not more powerful than God.
• People may be able to make you life hard, they may be able to take your very life, but they cannot take away your gift of salvation, they cannot take your relationship with God away, they cannot separate you from the love of God!
• I know on a practical standpoint that people will let other people be the reason they turn there back in God.
• Maybe a wife has been so abused by a husband that she thinks God is to blame, maybe a child has been abused by a parent to the point they feel God does not love them.
• People do terrible things to other people, but they do it because we live in a fallen world, it is not God’s fault. Why doesn’t God stop it now? Why don’t they pay for it, well they will and the payment will be far worse than anything we could do to them.
• They will not abuse God, if they do not change, they will be punished for eternity.
• It is easy to fear people.
• According to an article in Today in the Word, July 13, 1993, During his years as premier of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev denounced many of the policies and atrocities of Joseph Stalin. Once, as he censured Stalin in a public meeting, Khrushchev was interrupted by a shout from a heckler in the audience. "You were one of Stalin’s colleagues. Why didn’t you stop him?" "Who said that?" roared Khrushchev. An agonizing silence followed as nobody in the room dared move a muscle. Then Khrushchev replied quietly, "Now you know why." http://www.christianglobe.com/Illustrations/
• We need not fear people.
• In verse 32 we are reminded that since God did not spare or withhold His own Son from us, will He not also give us the lesser things in life?
• When God freely give, He does it by His grace; this is what freely give means.
• In verse 28 we were told that even when bad things happened, God would turn those circumstances into a blessing. God will not withhold blessings from those who love Him.
• In verses 33-34 we have a shift in imagery to a court room where a person is standing there accusing God’s people before a judge.
• Paul asks who will bring a charge against God’s elect? We are told that God over and over again justifies His people, or declares them innocent. People can accuse you all they want, but if you are faithful to God, He is pronouncing you innocent.
• Once God pronounces one innocent and justified, there is no changing it. We cannot be condemned as long as God pronounces us justified.
• In verse 34 we are given four reasons as to why no one can condemn those who are declared innocent by God.
• Jesus died for us, Jesus was raised, Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father, and Jesus intercedes for the redeemed.
• Who is greater than God? Who is against us? Who will bring a charge against us? Who is the one who condemns us?
• We have no reason to fear people; The God you belong to is greater than all!
II. WE NEED NOT FEAR BAD CIRCUMSTANCES (35-37) READ
• Now we shift from people to circumstances. How many people do you know who have let bad things run them away from God?
• Verse 35 asks a fourth in a series of questions since verse 31 to demonstrate the love God has for us!
• This verse opens the facet to be considered as Jesus love for us. No matter what happens around us or to us, we must remember that Jesus loves us even of we feel like He does not because of the circumstances.
• I think when people mistreat us we feel like God has left us, or we fear what people can do to us, the other time we may feel like God does not love us is when bad things start happening to us.
• Remember, some bad things we bring on ourselves because of things we have done, but I am not speaking of these things.
• When we suffer because of our faith or when we suffer something from which we have no control, we tend to feel as if God has left us.
• There is a progression with the list of bad things Paul mentions in this section.
• Tribulation- a feeling of pressure. Distress- the inner anxiety that comes from being penned up in a very narrow place while not knowing where to turn. Persecution- the pursuit or hounding by enemies, sometimes including bodily harm.
• Famine- this happens when you are fleeing your persecutors. Nakedness- happens when one’s property is confiscated, or when one has to flee, leaving possessions behind. Peril- dangers one is in when finally caught by persecutors. Sword- denotes the death that finally happens to the pursued.
• Verse 36 is a quote of Psalm 44:22 where the Psalmist is upset and complaining over the persecution that is happening to the people at the time.
• This is a quote of Psalm 44:22 to show that such trials have always been a part of the life we live, but these trials never separated us from God. Even though the saints of old suffered at the hands of evil men, they were still the object of God’s love.
• FOR YOUR SAKE.....The picture in Ps 44:22 is one of Israel suffering not because of their sin, but because of their faithfulness to God. In verse 35 of Romans we see people being persecuted, but this is not a sign of God’s disapproval of them. They suffered because they were objects of God’s love.
• In Psalm 44, the Psalmist does not understand what is happening and is complaining about the circumstances, but Paul is not doing he same here. Paul exhibits a sense of rejoicing. With the help of Jesus, bad trials can be turned to good.
• Not only can bad times glorify God, but we are told that through Jesus we can not only conquer the things listed in verse 35, but we can be more than conquerors!
• Not only are our adversaries void of the power to separate us from the love of God, but their opposition is turned to our account, enhancing the power of our victory through Jesus. It may look like things are against us, but they are not!
• Bad times make us think we are not being loved by God, but instead we are enabled by Christ to have victory upon victory through Him.
III. WE NEED NOT FEAR ANY POTENTIAL PROBLEMS (38-39)
• In verses 38-39 Paul gives us the grand conclusion to this section of Romans.
• Paul adds some personal commentary to this section. He is completely convinced of the love of God for those who are saved. Paul faced a lot of hard times because he belonged to Jesus, yet He did not question God’s love, Paul lived a life without fear!
• No condition of existence (life of death), no beings (angels, principalities) nothing in time (present of future), nothing in the way of powers of forces, nothing in space (heights of depths), nothing in all creation, can separate a Christian from God’s saving love by placing a barrier between them and that love so that it cannot reach them.
• I do not care what you are facing, who you are facing, or what you have faced or done in your life; you need not have fear if you belong to Jesus!
• Some of you do not feel loved by God because of your past, some of you do not feel loved by God because of a situation you are facing, and some of you do not feel loved by God because of bad things other people have done or are doing to you.
• In Christ we have no fear!
• Many of our fears come because we do not know. One thing can know that should help dispel any fear you are living with.
• God loves you, He is for you and He will do what He has promised us He would do.
• Now is the time to stop living in fear!
CONCLUSION
• Do you want to have no fear of the future? Do you want to know where you are going when this life is over?
• Are you walking through what seems your valley of the shadow of death alone?
• Today is the day to change that!
circumstances
