“More than Conquerors”

Text: Romans 8:31-39 -- Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee  --  October 31, 2004

REVIEW

1.  All Things: The Bible is clear that God is in charge and that for those who are His children through faith in Christ, He is working everything in our lives together for our good.

2.  From Eternity Past and Forever: This great promise is not a new idea for God, and He will never give up on this commitment.  He cherished us in love before He made the earth.  He chose us in love to become like Jesus.  He called us in love by the power of His Spirit.  He will glorify us in love with resurrection bodies that will never die.  Believing these important articles of faith reassures us that God is indeed working all things together for good in our lives, even when His providences are very difficult.

 

TODAY’S PASSAGE: 

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?  32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?  33 Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.  34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.  35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  36 As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter."  37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.  38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,  39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

Introduction

            This week I read a very inspiring prayer letter from Margaret Rineer.  She writes about her husband Rick who has been battling cancer for some time.

“How do we write this?  Our hearts are breaking… Saturday, before Rick was released from the hospital, two of his doctors shared with us the pathology report from surgery, and we heard the agonizingly difficult news that the cancer is Stage Four…, the most advanced stage.  We are crushed and heartbroken, yet the Lord has shown us so many wonderful things in the past 48 hours that we know without a shadow of a doubt that we are definitely not forsaken.  The Lord is giving us a most amazing sense of HOPE in the midst of our pain!  He is walking with us through this valley and it is an amazing experience to put our hands in His and let Him lead the way.  He is the only One who can see… our eyes are too full of tears.”

            Yesterday I spoke with my friend Costin Şuster in Romania.  You remember that Costin and his wife Alina have been hosting two sisters and a brother in their home for the last three and a half years.  Four weeks ago one of the girls left their home without any warning.  She apparently did not want to live in a house with rules about the way she could dress and the people she could be involved with.  In a sense, she no longer wanted to have parents.  Yet those who are closest to her are trusting that if this sweet girl is one of God’s precious children, that He will only let her wander so far.  We are trusting that she will be brought to her senses and rethink the blessings that God has given to her.

            I was reading recently about a man named Walter Mill, born about the year 1476.  He lived 82 years, and proclaimed the truths that would later become some of the central biblical beliefs of the reformation.  For this he was burned at the stake as an old man by the religious authorities in Scotland of his day.  His story is an interesting and inspiring testimony of Christian fortitude repeated over and over again across the history of the church of Jesus Christ.  You stand in his tradition this morning if you will stand with Christ regardless of the consequences that you face from the powers of this world.

 

What then shall we say?

            None of these people I have mentioned are sinless.  What is it that empowers people Rick and Maragaret Rineer when their eyes are full of tears?  What is it that allows Costin and Alina Şuster to keep on trusting God when a child seems to reject their love?  What is it that enabled Walter Mill, a faithful old preacher of truth, to suffer as a martyr in the flames of powerful men, believing that his death would have some meaning?   John Calvin said in commenting on the passage before us this morning, “When the saints rely on the power of God alone, they dare to despise whatever is opposed to them in the world.”  The truth of God is powerful, and the power of God is true.

            What then shall we say when, based on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are convinced that there is life beyond this world of suffering?  What then shall we say when we see the absolute external truth of what God has done for us in Christ, and know that the glory He has promised us is bigger than the wandering steps of a confused child?  What shall we say when we know that God’s love for us is many centuries older than any earthly powers that are arrayed against us?  What shall we say when we know that God’s plans for our glory in Christ are more secure than any comforts that the enemies of the Lord might entice us with?  What shall we say when we become convinced by the Word and Spirit of God that the sufferings of this present age are not worthy to be compared with the glories that are revealed in us?  What then shall we say?  We shall say that God is for us.

 

Is God really “for” you today?

            If you are sons of God by election and adoption, if you have faith in Jesus Christ and are truly able to call God your Father, then God is for you.  This little statement – God is for you – is a simple proposition with extraordinary power for good.  God is for you.

            Most people try and judge whether God is for them based on the events of their lives.  That is not the right way to go.  Where does that leave you when you are dying of cancer?  Where does it leave you when your daughter is wandering, or when people earnestly desire to see your body consumed in flames simply because you present the truth of God’s Word?  How can you know that God is for you when you are on a cross? 

Here is a question for you to consider.   Is there any truth that is bigger than your tragedy?  If there is no truth more powerful than your tragedy, then you will find it hard to believe that God is for you.  But if you believe the Word of God concerning things that happened long before any ancestors you know about were born, then you can know some things that are very important.  You can know the electing love of the Father, the atoning death of the Son, and the purifying work of the Spirit.  You can know that these truths are all bigger than the biggest tragedy that you could ever face.  God is for you.  This is a very simple point and it is so important for you to embrace if you are to live a better life of faith.

            If God is for you who can be against you?  In one sense, many people can be against you.  Yet by comparison, if God is for you, nobody can be against you, even though everybody may be against you.  If God is for you, then He will freely give you all things.  How can we know this?  Because He has already given you the most costly gift in the death of His Son.  If He did that for you, then why would He deny you any other good gift?  He will not.

 

Will God be “for” you when Jesus returns?

            Yet you know that Jesus is going to return in judgment.  You also know that you have violated God’s laws, and you deserve God’s judgment against you.  Where do you stand in the courtroom of the Lord?  If you are to be in danger there, someone will have to bring a charge against you.  But who would dare to bring a charge against God’s elect when you have already been declared righteous based on the righteousness of Jesus Christ.  And who would pronounce the sentence of condemnation against you?  It is an interesting fact in the story of Walter Mill that his execution had to be delayed by one day because no governmental official could be found who would dare to pronounce a sentence of condemnation against this man.  Your eternal situation is much better than this.  Christ Himself will return to judge the living and the dead, but how will He pronounce a sentence of condemnation against the elect for whom he gave His own precious blood?  Jesus died for you.  Jesus rose again from the dead for you.  Jesus is at the right hand of the Father in heaven for you.  Jesus is offering up your prayers to the Father, and pleading your case based on His blood.  Therefore, Jesus, who is doing all this for you, shall not condemn you.

            If this is true for the child of God, then even now there is nothing that can separate you from the love of Christ.  No tribulation, distress, or persecution is big enough to scare away Jesus. No famine, nakedness, peril, or sword can separate what God has joined together.  It comes down to this.  There are two ways of thinking about the favor of God in your life.  The first is to look at your own life and to consider your own feelings as the most important evidence of whether or not God is for you.  By that method there are many things that could separate you from the favor of God.  The second method is to hear God’s powerful voice in His Word and to believe what God has accomplished for you in His Son.  Only by that method, can it be said that nothing can separate you from the love of Christ.

 

Psalm 44

            Is this way of living life some pretend game where you deny suffering?  Not at all.  Paul quotes Psalm 44 here.  Read the whole Psalm to get the context.  We are counted as sheep for the slaughter, and we know that in some sense that God has done this.  There is no denial of great suffering in this life, and no denial of God’s sovereignty over everything.  We are counted as sheep for the slaughter in this life and yet is God really for us?  If this life were everything, then that would be very puzzling.  But this life is not all there is.  There is life beyond cancer.  There is life beyond wandering children.  There is life beyond the flames of burning persecution.  Therefore, we who believe God are more than conquerors in all these trials and persecutions through Him who loved us. 

“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”