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Romans Lesson 18 (2008)

THE NEW LIFE OF THE JUSTIFIED – IX
(WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS)

Romans 8:31-39
Key Verse: 8:37

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

One of the most important topics of Romans chapter 8 is the eternal security of God’s salvation. In the previous passage, Romans 8:28-30, Paul convincingly declared that our salvation in Christ is guaranteed because in all things God works together for our good through His great wisdom and power. The ultimate goal of his salvation is to make us in the likeness of His Son Jesus Christ. In verses 29-30, Paul explains five links of salvation, such as foreknowledge, predestination, calling, justification and glorification. What Paul was trying to say is that our salvation is guaranteed because it is done not by our random choice but by God’s eternal design. Some people may be reluctant to accept the truth about the eternal security of God’s salvation, because some Bible texts seem to indicate that we can lose our salvation along the way. (Hebrews 6 and 10) They also fear that if people are told that they can’t lose their salvation, it may lead them to think, “If I can’t lose my salvation, I’ll do whatever I want.” (Ro 6:1ff) There are many other reasons to reject the truth of eternal security of God’s salvation. Some religious leaders need people to be insecure in their salvation in order to retain control over them. However, God does not want His children to be uncertain about their future. It is God’s strong desire to fully restore His children in the likeness of His son, Jesus Christ, by His wisdom, power and love. Today’s passage, 31-39, is the conclusion of the chapter, in which Paul encourages us that no matter what happens to our lives, we should be confident of one thing, that God’s love for us never changes nor diminishes.

In verses 31-35, Paul asks five questions in order to make his point more clearer and stronger. Look at verses 31-35. “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? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? 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. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?”

Here, Paul is challenging his readers with the question, “If you are not convinced of eternal security of your salvation, ask yourselves, ‘Is God for you or against you?’” If God is against us, we are really in trouble. In fact, due to many troubles and hardship in their lives, some Christians can be doubtful about God’s love for them, thinking “Since things are not going well with me, God must be against me. God must be hating me.” Well, everyone has difficulties and troubles in life. But that doesn’t mean that God hates us. In fact, he said in verse 28 that in all things God works for the good of His beloved children.

According to Paul in verse 32, we learn that God is not just working for our good reluctantly but He is absolutely on our side. If God, who is in control over everything, is on our side, ultimately nobody and nothing in the world can be against us. Paul mentions a lot of things that can possibly be against us along the way of our lives in this world in verses 35 and 38. Look at verse 35. “… Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” According to Paul, no matter what kind of trouble we may face in our lives, we cannot be separated from the love of God. According to verse 38, if God is for us, not even death or life, angels or demons, present or future or anything in the world can separate us from the love of God.

But the main issue still remains, “Is God really for me?” How do I know that God loves me unconditionally? How do I know that God will not change his mind along the way? How do I know that I won’t be dropped from the hand of God’s mercy? What about my sins and mistakes that I make knowingly and unknowingly? Does God still love me in spite of my failures? Is He going to be happy about me? In fact, unless we are convinced of God’s love for us, we will always feel insecure and will have a lot of trouble. Although there are many kinds of troubles in the world, the real trouble is on the inside, not just the outside. When our minds and hearts are not able to handle the troubles from the outside, we internalize them and hold on to them. Some people break down at certain point. But we as God’s children can overcome inner troubles when we are convinced of God’s love for us. God’s love is the foundation of our confidence. If God is not for us, we are really in trouble. So it’s important to know that God is for us, not against us.

How can we be sure that God is for us? How can we be so sure of God’s unchanging love for us? How was Paul so sure of God’s love for him? Was he convinced of God’s love because of his wealth? Was he convinced of God’s love because he had fame and good reputation? Was he convinced of God’s love because he had a good marriage life? No. He had a lot of trouble and hardship. His life was threatened, he was persecuted and rejected, imprisoned, poor and lonely. I believe that he also experienced some failures. Yet, Paul was convinced of God’s love for him. How? Only through Jesus Christ. He said in 1 Timothy 1:15, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the worst.” Paul could be convinced of God’s love for him mainly because of Jesus’ grace of forgiveness of sins. He also said in Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Here, we learn from Paul that no matter what happens to our lives, we can be convinced of God’s love when we remember what God has done in our lives through Jesus Christ. God knew that we would go through many trouble and hardships, yet he prepared us with the grace of forgiveness of sins, so that we may be fully convinced of His love for us. Read verses 32-35. “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? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? 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. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?”In these verses, Paul was saying that we can be sure of God’s love because God has given us Jesus Christ as the best and the greatest gift. Jesus is the best treasure we can have, so if God didn’t spare him, but gave him up for us all, we can be sure that God will also give us other things we need. It’s like going into a contest and winning a BMW – a very expensive car. You go into the dealership and say, “I want my car,’ and they say “Here it is!” You get in the car and find there are no keys. You say, “I’d like the keys to my car.” They don’t say, “Oh, no, you just won the car, you didn’t win the keys.” If we win the car, we also should win everything that’s necessary to drive it off the lot. In the very same way, God has given us His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. God has not held back the best that He has. Will he hold back food from us? No, he won’t. Will he hold back water from us? Will he not answer our prayers? We know that since he has given us the best, he will give us the rest as well. God is surely on our side. Sometimes, we need to wait on God patiently.

Paul elaborates what God has done through Jesus Christ more in these verses in order to convince that God is for us. Look at verse 34. “Who is he that condemns? 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.” First of all, Christ died for our sins. Through the shedding of his blood through his death on the cross, Jesus became the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Through our faith in him, we are declared to be righteous. Punishment, curse and condemnation of our sin have been completely removed from us. We are now God’s children. We don’t need to be afraid of any punishment or curse any longer. We are forgiven, we are cleanse, and we are accepted. We are also called to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with others. Although we may have to go through hardships in the world, we are heirs of God – coheirs with Christ – who will inherit the glorious kingdom of heaven. We will be changed into the glorious resurrection body and live forever and ever. In fact, the work of Christ didn’t end in death on the cross. Jesus who died on the cross, rose and entered into heaven. He is now sitting at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. In fact, he is praying for each of those whom he had chosen, called, justified and sanctified day and night, so that they can be glorified. We know that God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are all on our side. This is an amazing advantage for us. Therefore, we, as God’s beloved children, don’t have any fundamental reason to be anxious or troubled in heart. The distinguishing mark of a child of God is his confidence in the love of the Father that is in Christ Jesus, who suffered and died for our sins. We must firmly believe that God is always with us and for us. What an amazing blessing it is! That’s why Jesus said in John 16:33, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Most of us are too aware of trouble and problems that we have to deal with in our day-to-day struggle. As Christians, we have to struggle to survive, achieve our goals in life and bring God’s kingdom to this world as it is in heaven. But how can we, who are limited due to our weaknesses and many responsibilities, effectively achieve all these high goals and objectives? We can’t. Only God will accomplish them. Yet He wants us to be a part of His glorious work of redemption in our limited power and limited circumstances. Most of all, God does not want us to remain in our weakness. He wants us to be strong.

How can we be strong? We can exercise and build strong muscles. We can study and increase our knowledge and pray to be wise in making decisions. But most importantly, we need to be strong by trusting in God’s love for us through our Lord Jesus Christ who not only gave himself for us but also is interceding for us in heaven to be conformed in his likeness. Paul says in verse 37, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” When we are young, we are nurtured by our parents’ love and support. It’s really wonderful to be nurtured and supported by our parents and others, such as friends, coworkers, teachers and mentors. It’s also important to support others in love. We often see, however, that human love is not strong enough. There are times when we are attacked by the evil power of the world and no human is in control of what is happening to us. That is the tragedy of life in this world. However, we as Christians can still be victorious because it is the love of God that makes us truly stable and strong, strong enough to resist the temptation and attack of the devil. Our faith in Christ is our victory.

Apostle John said in his letter to the early Christians who were going through many hardships and persecutions, “Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” Our faith in God’s love through Jesus Christ seems to be a trivial matter, the religious part of our life. But that’s not true. Our faith in Christ and our confidence in the love of God in Christ affects our entire life both now and forever because Jesus overcome the power of sin, death, the devil and the world. That’s why the Bible says clearly, “The righteous will live by faith.”
Many years ago before I knew Christ, if someone said to me, “God loves you” it sounded very foreign to me because I didn’t think that God loved me. In fact, I felt offended and said, “Who cares?” I was blind and arrogant before God. However, after meeting Christ Jesus personally through repentance and faith in Christ, I began to accept the fact that God truly loves me, even me, such as wretched and struggling man. Fear, bitterness and sorrow that had been bothering me for so many years in my early life began to fade away from me. The more I am convinced of God’s love for me through Christ, the more I am joyful and want to serve Him and others. When I am not convinced of God’s love, I become weak and uncertain. I become negative towards myself and others. It’s not because I lost my salvation or my faith in Jesus. It’s because I am often misled and weakened by doubt and fear again.

The complexity of life in this world seems to be overwhelming. We may be going through the dark valley of shadow of death, through failures, serious mistakes and other problems in life. Sometimes, we are hit very hard and feel so down. We can also fall miserably. But we can get up again and again when we are convinced of God’s love for us. We can be strong by fixing our eyes on Jesus Christ. Paul also said to his spiritual son, Timothy, “You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” (2 Timothy 2:1) Therefore, we should never forget or give up our confidence in God’s love and grace through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Look at verses 38-39. “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.” When Paul said “anything in all creation” he definitely included even our sins and ourselves. Even when our faith becomes weak, God does not fail us. If God is for us, even we ourselves cannot be against him. God who sent Jesus Christ who died for us also called us; He who called us also justified and sanctify us; He who justified us will complete his work in us through glorification. God is love. He knows our weaknesses. But he is not against us. He is not neutral, waiting to see how we do on our own. He loves us not less and less but more and more. The triune God, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, is working actively together for us. We can be more than conquerors through Him our Father who loves us. Are you confident of His love?

 
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