If God be for us, who can be against us?
I would like everyone to walk out of here this morning after they listen to this message and be aware of one thing: That God is for you. And if God is for us, who can be against us?
God is for you! He is on your side! He loves you from the top of your head to the tip of your toes. He will never leave you nor will he ever forsake you. He knows you intimately yet he still believes in you.
God is for us, because first of all, His Word declares it, and I have experienced it first hand, and I know that even if you don’t realize it now, you can look back and realize it. Look at Romans 8:31- and this morning we will be hanging around this chapter, so you will not need to flip your pages too much.
"What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31, KJV)
Paul knew this fact, and he was determined to prove it to you and to me and to emphasize it. Paul, like all of us, went through hard times and would go through many more hard times in his life. A promise of suffering was part of his calling! (Acts 9:16) His testimony in 2 Corinthians 11:23-33 is telling:
"Are they servants of Christ? I can go them one better. (I can’t believe I’m saying these things. It’s crazy to talk this way! But I started, and I’m going to finish.) I’ve worked much harder, been jailed more often, beaten up more times than I can count, and at death’s door time after time. I’ve been flogged five times with the Jews’ thirty-nine lashes, beaten by Roman rods three times, pummeled with rocks once. I’ve been shipwrecked three times, and immersed in the open sea for a night and a day. In hard traveling year in and year out, I’ve had to ford rivers, fend off robbers, struggle with friends, struggle with foes. I’ve been at risk in the city, at risk in the country, endangered by desert sun and sea storm, and betrayed by those I thought were my brothers. I’ve known drudgery and hard labor, many a long and lonely night without sleep, many a missed meal, blasted by the cold, naked to the weather. And that’s not the half of it, when you throw in the daily pressures and anxieties of all the churches. When someone gets to the end of his rope, I feel the desperation in my bones. When someone is duped into sin, an angry fire burns in my gut. If I have to “brag” about myself, I’ll brag about the humiliations that make me like Jesus. The eternal and blessed God and Father of our Master Jesus knows I’m not lying. Remember the time I was in Damascus and the governor of King Aretas posted guards at the city gates to arrest me? I crawled through a window in the wall, was let down in a basket, and had to run for my life. “(2 Corinthians 11:23-33, The Message)
Now, have you experienced trouble, real trouble in your Christian walk? God has been gracious to all of us in trouble and in joy. Job was a very righteous man, but he lost everything: his possessions, his family, his health- leaving only his wife, who also attacked him for his righteous stand. What did he say? “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” We all have experienced or are experiencing or will experience hardship in our lives. Jesus said
"I’ve told you all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I’ve conquered the world.” “(John 16:33, The Message)
Because of the fact that Christ has overcome the world, And God’s Word does not change no matter what; I know that God is for us. And if God is for us who can be against us?
I know that God is for us because he promises that every situation, all things, work out for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28) What is that good? That question is answered in Romans 8:29- that we may be conformed to the likeness of Jesus- that is that we may look more and more like Jesus. The things that we go through, the highs and the lows, the difficulties and the easy times, the dry times and the times when the living water flows, God is absolutely for us. It does not matter where we are, or what we do, God is using everything to work together so that we can be conformed to the likeness of Jesus. Because He wants me to look more and more like my Savior, I know God is for me, and if God is for us, who can be against us?
I know God is for me because He has called me, and He has a purpose for me. Ephesians 2:10 says that I am God’s work of art, created for a special purpose. God does not make junk! He has made you and he has made me for a purpose that he has uniquely gifted you for. I know he is for us because he has foreknown us, that is, he was aware of us and loved us as individuals before we were even born. He predestined us for salvation and eternity in heaven even as he prepared us for a specific purpose here on earth, and prepared me beforehand to look like Christ. This truth proves God is for us, and if God is for us who can be against us?
I know that God is for us because he justified us (vs.30). In other words, He acquitted us, He made us righteous, and he put us in right standing with Himself! He made it just as though we had never sinned! He gave me Christ’s righteousness at no cost to me! God loves us right where we are, but he loves us too much to keep us there. So, not only does he justify us, but he glorifies us, lifting us out of this earthly state of being and confers on us heavenly dignity as he conforms us to the likeness of Christ. He has already made us citizens of heaven! We may live here on earth, but it is not our home. It is not our permanent residence. We are strangers and ambassadors of His heavenly kingdom. Because He Justifies and glorifies us, I know He is for us. And if God is for us, who can be against us?
I know that God is for us, because He did not spare His own Son. He allowed Jesus to leave His glorious, heavenly home to be stuffed into mortal flesh, born of a virgin, teach, heal, walk, lead, and serve here on this earth. And on this Palm Sunday, we see the resolute aim of Christ as he seeks to accomplish His Fathers will as he marches towards his death; the rejection of his people, the merciless beating by the Romans, only then to be hung, bloody and bruised on the cross to die. Why did he do this? It says in Romans 5:8 that he did it to demonstrate His love for us. When God speaks, He acts, and when he acts, he speaks. He died, because God is for us, and if God is for us who can be against us?
I know that God is for us, because He is greater than our greatest adversary. Believe me, I know that there are forces lined up against us, all led by the great accuser Satan himself. HE is the one who is ready always to make a charge against you. HE uses many weapons; other people, our thought life, trials, temptations, and other tools to bring a charge against you and condemnation to your spirit. “ you don’t pray enough’ you don’t read the bible enough’ ‘that is some attitude for a Christian to have’ ‘you hypocrite’. Satan even uses people in the church to lay charges and condemnation against you! I want to remind us of something- God is my judge and your judge. Satan brings charges, sometimes through people, but it is God who justifies. And greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world who is making the accusation. This chapter in Romans opens reminding us that there is therefore now NO CONDEMNATION for those who are in Christ Jesus. The weapon of accusation and condemnation will not stand. It is Christ who died and rose again and defeated death. Satan no longer has that power over us. It is God who justified, it is Christ who died and rose again, and it all proves that God is for us, and if God is for us who can be against us?
I know God is for us, because Christ is at the right hand of God making intercession for us! He is pleading our case! When Satan brings an accusation, I see Jesus standing there saying- that is your precious child, Dad. I died for him or for her and we grafted them into the family! We promised nothing or no one could snatch them out of our hand! Satan has no standing in this courtroom, because this child is justified! Jesus pleads our case, he lives forever to make intercession for us (Hebrews 7:25) Jesus is on our side, He loves us, He is for us. When we get to heaven, all God will see is that we are covered with the blood of Christ, and we are therefore righteous, not because of anything we have done, but because of Christ’s shed blood, and the imputed righteousness of God. Christ is your perfect High Priest, your attorney, your cheerleader, always making the case for you, always expressing his love and affection for you, always cheering you on. The enemy is rendered powerless, because Christ is our intercessor. He joins with the Holy Spirit, who helps us to pray even in our weakness, when we do not know what to pray (8:26). Because Christ is always making intercession for us, I know that God is for us, and if God is for us, who can be against us?
I know that God is for us, because despite all circumstances in our lives, nothing can separate us from His love. The accuser still tries, however, anything he can to take our eyes off of this truth, this reality that God is for us. He will bring experiences into our lives to try and to make us believe that God is not for us. Things do happen in our lives, and there are some preachers and teachers out there who will try and tell you that when these things come, that it is a sign that God is not for you! I am here to tell you today that that is a lie, and that God is for us. And if God is for us, who can be against us?
Wait a minute, preacher. What about suffering, affliction, tribulation? If I am experiencing these things, God must not be for me! If I am not experiencing my ‘best life now’ God must be against me! Nothing could be further from the truth, Christian. God will not bring you to something that He will not bring you through. He is absolutely, positively for you! Remember, these things, all things, come into our life to make us look more like Christ. Job suffered, oh how he suffered, and his wife, at his low point, said that it would be better if Job would just ‘curse God and die’ Job responded in faith of a better future, and a knowledge that God was for him, that we should not take the good gifts that God gives and not receive the bad? Even Job knew that in the midst of his pain, and the midst of his loss that God was for him. Jesus reminds us in the Sermon on the Mount that we are blessed when men persecute and revile us for his name. (Mt 5:11-12). The persecuted church is one of the strongest churches because He is all they have to hold on to. And as He promised, His strength is perfected in their weakness. I know God is for us, because He has brought us through it all with grace- and if God be for us who can be against us?
What about being destitute-can God be for one who is poor and naked who has nothing? There are some health and wealth preachers who would say no. God would say that we can be separate from possessions, but we can never be separated from His love. What about danger or peril? Can that separate us from God’s love? NO! We have already noted the many dangers Paul faced, and He knew God was there in the midst of it all. When I was in my motorcycle accident, I was in pain, but I knew God was with me. I have friends who are missionaries in Muslim lands, who face danger and death every single day. (This is why we must pray for them every day). In this danger, however, they are buoyed up by the fact that God is for them, and He is their strong tower. Hebrews 7:25 reminds us that Christ is able to save us to the uttermost. He is able to establish us (Romans 16:25) to do exceedingly abundantly more than we can ask and think (Ephesians 3:20) To subdue all things unto Himself (Philippians 3:21) and to keep us from falling (Jude 24), so there is nothing and no one in all creation-not angels, nor demons nor death, nor life. Things here and now (present) or things to come (the future) can ever separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Since he is able to save us to the uttermost, I know God is for us. And if God is for us, who can be against us?
The answer is nothing and no one can separate us from Gods love, because God is for us! He promises that He will ever leave us nor forsake us! He promises that no one can snatch one of His own out of His hand. He knew you, Christian, before you were born. He was for you then. He has brought you through many dangers, toils and snares, because He was for you then. He will see His purpose for you lived out by you to bring you complete joy and bring Him glory because He is for you. He is for you, and will always be for you, And if God is for us, who can be against us?
