The Christian's Assurance

THE CHRISTIAN’S ASSURANCE

Text: Rom. 8: 31-39

Thesis: To prove that the Christian with God is secure and will overcome.

Introduction:

1. Many times a Christian will live in doubt.

a. He begins to worry about whether or not he is saved.

b. He begins to beat himself up over his shortcomings; thus, he will begin to view Christianity as hard and difficult.

c. He may even get the false notion that he must be sinlessly perfect, and that Christianity is just his keeping laws.

d. He must understand that he must obey God, but he must also understand the role and love of God in his salvation.

2. Paul is the author of Romans, and his theme in the book is that a man is justified only through the gospel of Christ.

a. The Jews had the mindset that they were saved just because they were Jews.

b. Paul shows that all have sinned, and that the Law of Moses could not remove sins in an ultimate sense.

c. Paul shows that only Christ and His blood can remove sins; thus, one must submit to the Law of the Spirit, the New Testament.

3. Paul goes on to prove that God’s eternal purpose was that everyone would be saved “in Christ (Rom. 8: 28-30).”

4. God’s great love is seen in His unfolding the scheme of redemption, and this past event is the Christian’s assurance that God continues to love and work for His people.

5. Why would one want to go back to the Law Moses when he can have this blessed assurance?

6. The Christian’s assurance as seen from Romans 8 will be noted in 3 areas.

Discussion:

I. God’s people are cherished (Rom. 8: 31-33).

A. God is for His people (vs. 31).

1. Paul had just finished proving that God always had a plan for man’s redemption, and that plan is for all to be in Christ.

2. Paul wrote that God has worked everything out in the past for the good of the accomplishing of this plan.

3. Therefore, Paul asked the question, “What shall we then say to these things (vs. 31)?”

a. This is a rhetorical question in which Paul invites his readers to draw the necessary conclusion warranted by the evidence.

b. The answer is obvious: “God is for us!”

(1) This would offer great assurance for the original readers of Romans.

(a) The book was written around AD 57, and this would place it during the reign of Nero.

(b) This passage gave the Christians reassurance, because many were being persecuted by the hands of evil men.

(2) This should also give us assurance today, because God is still for His people today.

B. God blesses His people (vs. 32).

1. Paul then argues from the “great” to the “lesser (vs. 32).”

2. The great is the gift of Jesus upon the cress, and the lesser is any blessings that God continues to give today.

3. “What God has done seals what He will do!”

4. God is still blessing His people today.

C. God justifies His people (vs. 33).

1. God’s elect are the people who are chosen by God, because they have chosen to obey God.

2. No man, being, or thing can condemn God’s people.

a. “Shall lay” means “to come forward as an accuser in court.”

b. God has said that His people, those who have chosen to be “in Christ,” are justified, and nothing but one’s own apostasy can change that.

II. God’s love for His people is constant (Rom. 8: 34-36).

A. God and Christ loved us in the past (vs. 34).

1. God sent His Son to be the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world.

2. Christ was willing and did become that Lamb.

B. That love has not changed will not change (vs. 35).

1. God still loves His people.

2. Paul used the word “separate,” and it means “to sever from something.”

3. God had loved the Christians to whom Paul was writing, and they would continue to be loved by God.

4. Nero’s persecution of the Christians neither would nor could separate them from God’s love.

5. The only way that they could be separated from it would be if they were to remove themselves from it by their own apostasy.

6. This truth applies the same way to the Christian today.

a. This world and its pain and persecutions can’t separate us from God’s love.

b. God’s love remains constant, and we can keep ourselves in that glorious love by remaining true to His will.

7. One has said, “When we put our hand into the hand of God, God never lets go.” Let us strive to never let go of God’s hand.

III. The Christian, through God, will conquer (Rom. 8: 37-39).