More Than A Conqueror, I Am More Than A Conqueror, Rev. Dr. Howard-John Wesley

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] beloved won't you bow and be in prayer with me as we prepare our hearts and minds to joyfully receive and then live out the fruit of the word of god that we planted in our hearts and minds today let's bow in prayer amazing god for the gift of this day we're grateful the opportunity we have now to hear you speak to us through your holy word thy word o lord is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path pray that now through the teaching and preaching the living and the sowing of your word that our lives will bear good fruit and that the world may see more of christ in us speak lord for your servants are listening in jesus name we do pray amen today family we come to the conclusion and the finish line of our almost two-month study of romans chapter eight and i want to thank you for being patient with us over these weeks we have taken our time to navigate through this eighth chapter of the book of romans which is arguably one of the most reassuring and faith affirming chapters in all of god's holy word you will recall that within this theological treaties paul is not only attempting to explain and expound upon god's salvific work in and through jesus christ but particularly in this eighth chapter paul is endeavoring to share with us the benefit and the blessing of being believers in christ who live under and in the power of the holy spirit i've suggested to you that in these dark and difficult days in which we live in these times of despair and darkness in this season of uncertainty and unprecedented unbelief how important it is for us to re-hear and reaffirm these assurances that paul delivers to us in romans chapter 8. it is romans chapter 8 that assures us that there is no condemnation to those who are in christ jesus romans chapter 8 assures us that if the spirit of christ dwells within us that the same way god resurrected christ from the dead he will also grant life to our mortal bodies it is romans chapter 8 that assures us that we are heirs of god and joint heirs with jesus christ eighth chapter of romans reminds us that the suffering of our present age cannot be compared with the glory that god has prepared to shine and reveal on us in us and through us it is romans chapter 8 that reminds us that our salvation is connected to all of creation and that we have a responsibility as the redeemed to live our lives in a way that changes the entire planet upon which we live romans chapter 8 reminds us that although we are weak we have a helper in the holy spirit who intercedes with us in our prayer moments and gives us strength to live out the call in the command of god it is romans 8 that gives us the assurance that all things work together for good for them that love god and are called according to his purpose and it's romans chapter 8 that reminds us that if god be for us who can stand against us today as we cross the finish line i would that you hear one of the final and greatest assurances that paul delivers to the body of christ who walks in and under the power of the holy spirit in romans chapter 8 beginning in verse number 35 i want to read in the new international version of god's holy word who shall separate us from the love of christ show trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword as it is written for your sake we face death all day long we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered no in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us for i am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor demons nor the present nor the future nor any power nor anything that has been shall be height or depth anything in creation will be able to separate us from the love of god that is in jesus christ our lord no in all these things we are more than conquerors for this last sermon i would if you do me a favor chat it if you will touch somebody take a note and just remind yourself i'm more than a conqueror i'm more than a conqueror as we shared a few weeks ago and prayerfully you remember paul's conclusion of romans chapter 8 is signaled by a literary shift and the use of seven rhetorical questions at the end of romans chapter 8 paul lifts up seven rhetorical questions and the reason they are rhetorical is because the answer to each question is the same all seven questions have the same answer no no one or nothing all seven questions are answered with no no one or nothing and i've suggested to you that what paul is doing at the end of romans eight he's not asking questions that need an answer he's asking questions that are to bring an amen listen at the questions again paul asks what shall we say to these things the answer there's nothing left to say because when god's been that good to you and the lord has worked that many miracles in your life your life speaks for itself paul asked the question if god be for us who can be against us the answer no one or no thing paul asked the question how will god not freely and graciously give us all things the answer there's no way he can't because if god freely gave us jesus then clearly everything else comes as a result paul asks a question who can bring a charge against god select no one who can condemn god's elect nobody every question paul asks is answered with no no one no thing and nobody what do you remember that because paul takes a turn and asks two final questions that have the same answer as the first five one of the second to last questions paul asked is this who shall separate us from the love of christ that we've seen the same answer to that question is the one you've been given to the other five nothing no one nobody no one can separate us from the love of jesus christ paul then begins to list some possibilities and for each possibility the answer is no can trouble separate us from the love of christ no can hardship separate us from the love of christ no can distress separate us from the love of christ no can persecution separate us from the love of christ no can fairmen separate us from the love of christ no can nakedness separate us from the love of christ no can persecution separate us from the love of christ no paul's definitive answer is that whatever it is from a to z it cannot separate us from the love of christ because in all of these things we are more than conquerors in all these things hardship distress persecution nakedness famine danger peril sword you name it whatever it is paul declares that in the midst of all of that we are more than conquerors beloved i suggest you that when that gets a hold of your spirit when that is cemented in your mind when you believe that in your heart it will cause the easiest amen of your day if you would wake up every day and face that day with the assurance that no matter what happens today i am more than a conqueror that in christ i am more than a conqueror now now before you shout too easily and the amen comes too quickly allow me to share with you there's some good news and some bad news in that listen at how paul phrases it in all these things we are more than conquerors in all these things we are in these things we are more than conquerors which seems to suggest that the only way to hold on to this assurance is to accept the fact that at some moment you're going to be in these things at some moment you're going to be in some hardship in some moment you're going to deal with some persecution and some moment of your life you will be in distress and if you've not been down that road if you've not been in that storm if you've not had that struggle my advice to you is just keep on living because there's no way with your bible reading self and your amen shouting and your glory to god that you will escape being in these things every child of god will enter these things beloved i wish i wish i could stand here today and make you some prophetic promise that trouble will never come your way i wish i could assure you that everybody will always be your friend i wish i could tell you that everything will always turn out the way you want i wish i could tell you you would never get sick and nobody you love would ever die but the reality is that in some moment we will be in these things it's so certain that in these verses paul quotes from psalm 44. in verse 36 he says we are counted as sheep for the slaughter that is a reference to psalm 44 be a good bible student go back and read psalm 44 and find out that that is a lament of the people of god who recognize that god has allowed them to go through a season of struggle and suffering let me tell you something about god god will allow you to get in these things god will allow you to go through some hardships god will allow you to look death in the eye god will allow enemies surround you god will allow trouble to fall on your lap god often times allows the redeemed to get in these things and beloved i can't tell you that that is one of the most troubling dynamics of being in relationality with god that we serve a god who allows us to go through the worst in life in the language of theology this is what we call theodicy let the church say theodicy t-h-e-o-d-i-c-y theodicy and theodicy is one of the greatest struggles of being in relationship with god theodicy is wrestling with an understanding of how can god allow bad things to happen to good people theodicy is that struggle of trying to comprehend how god would allow the righteous and the redeemed to struggle in ways that don't make sense have you ever looked at your attempt to be righteous and felt like it was futile have you ever tried your best to love god and the bottom of your life still dropped out have you ever prayed sincerely and god did not do what you asked god to do if so you've had a theodicy moment when what you went through did not align itself with the god you believe in the theodicy beloved is what the book of job is all about job is a man who is upright and righteous and fears god and shuns evil and yet he can't get out of chapter one without losing everything in his life and every chapter in job asks the same question why how can god let this happen i can't i tell you this theodicy issue is the biggest obstacle for non-believers you want to know why most people don't believe in god why most people shun the reality of god and deny the sovereignty of god because they've been in situations that they could not understand how if there was a god that god would allow them to go through what they've gone through and as a result of what they went through they denied the reality of god and if i can be honest this morning for myself and somebody who's watching it's not just unbelievers who struggle with the odyssey if the truth be told there's some righteous folk in here there's some bible readers in here there are some prayer warriors in here who have gone through some struggles that made you ask god why god why would you allow me to go through that when i'm trying to get my life together it seems that some moments when i was living better outside of god than i was in the body of christ it seems some stuff didn't land on my lap when i was a blatant sinner but now that i'm a disciple of jesus christ look at the hell i go through look at the pain i endure look at the enemies i have god why but beloved theodicy is such a deep issue because bobby it calls into question two characteristics of god that we've put our faith in come here for a moment that that when i think of the term and the title god there are two things that rise up love and omnipotence that if god is anything if god is real if god can be defined and described by any characteristic by any nature it must be love and omnipotence if god is not love then there really ain't no need to be a god that's why james reminds us and john declares that god is love that god and love are synonymous with one another and if god is anything god must be omnipotent ain't no need in believing in a god if that god's hands are tied no need believing in a god who can't do whatever that god wants to do that's why the bible assures us that with god nothing is impossible because if you want to believe in god you've got to believe that this god can do whatever this god wants to do this god can have his way this god can make ways god is omnipotent and god is loving and here's the problem when theodicy lands in your lap when you are righteous and wind up struggling when you've tried to be right with god and still wind up wrong in life it calls into question love and omnipotence in one sense we wind up questioning the love of god it goes a little something like this if god loves me why in the world would god let this happen to me let me pause that someone's got enough years behind me to tell you that if you are ever in a relationship that you believe is a loving one and someone that believes you love them and they love you come to you and say if you love me something has already gone wrong and yet we reach that place where we look and wonder if god loves me why would this happen in our human understanding love ought to protect me from some things in my mind love ought to prevent some things from happening if you love me god there are some things you should never put on my agenda you should never put on my life you should never make me go through god if you love me you wouldn't treat me like this and if we don't call love into question we call omnipotence into question because when theodicy happens and when bad things happen to good people how can an omnipotent god who can do whatever he wants to do not stop that from happening have you ever questioned the omnipotence of god have you ever seen god allow something in your life that you believe god should have kept from happening oh okay let me push it have you ever seen the lord allow you the righteous to go through something and there's a sinner down the street who doesn't even go to church who can't even say the name jesus who ain't never opened up their bible who never prays and it seems like god keeps them out of everything every time you look up they got a new raise they got a new car they got a new boo they got a new this and here you are trying to be righteous and god allows that to happen when you reach that place one of two things will happen you'll either say well god loves me but god's not omnipotent or god is omnipotent but must not love me because the only way i can make sense of my struggle is either he has stopped loving me or he's not omnipotent when you get to that place i want you to revisit romans 8 because paul offers another understanding that that when we are in the midst of hardship when we are in persecution when we are in distress when we are in famine when we are in this administration understand this that we serve a god who still loves you and is still omnipotent this is what paul says remember this that no matter what you are in nothing can separate you from the love of god no struggle you go through no pain you endure no storm you sail through is evidence that god has stopped loving you i i want to make sure you hear this no matter what you find yourself in you've got to affirm to yourself that my circumstance does not deny the reality of god's love no matter what god still loves me in my sickness god still loves me and my cancer god still loves me and my divorce god still loves me and my addiction god still loves me in my unemployment god still loves me in the hell i walk through god still loves me and the reason watch this that you are more than a conqueror is because no matter what you are in you have never lost the love of god oh we all need to say that again no matter what you are in you have never lost the love of god oh okay uh some of y'all a little slow i'm gonna help you i used to be slow um the irs is one of the most powerful entities on the faith of the earth the internal revenue service you don't want to mess with the irs if you don't pay your taxes you cannot escape the irs sooner or later they will find you and when they find you they will exert their authority over you you may not know this and i pray you never find out but the irs can do some things the irs can garnish your wages you think your check ought to be 500 and when you get 25 know what happened the irs showed up the irs can go into your 401k and take it all out the irs can put a lien on your bank account and empty out your savings the irs can show up at your house and repossess your vehicle and sell it at an auction without any paperwork the irs has authority to take almost everything from you but the one thing the irs can never take is your house you may not know this the irs is forbidden from claiming your primary residence because it can take your money it can take your car it can take your savings it can take your 401 but there's some things the irs can never touch i came to tell you about the love of god hardship may take some of your joy distress may take some of your peace pain may take away some of your power but the one thing the hardships can never take from you is the love of god no matter what god still loves you and if that ain't made you shout let me add a little more to it and god loves you in a way that nobody else ever will god's love cannot be matched by any love you know let me see if i can prove my point the word for love that paul uses here it's a word you know in greek it's the word agape somebody say agape agape is a reference to the love god has and you know that in bible there are at least two other greek words paul could have used he could have chosen eros or he could have chosen philea or philia there are three terms for love in the bible agape eros and philia agape golly of arrows is where we get the word erotic it's a romantic love filet is where we get the word philanthropic or philadelphia it is a brotherly a sisterly a human love for all humanity now what's amazing is that paul uses the word agape and let me tell you what's interesting about agape agape is the only greek word in the bible for love that has no english derivative oh eros has an english word erotic philea has an english word philanthropic but when you search through all of your english lectionary you will find out there is no word in english that we can translate and use for agape why because there's nothing on earth that compares with the agape love that god has for you there will be some erotic love there will be some philanthropic love but there is no love like god's love i came by to tell someone today your boo may love you but not like god your spouse may love you but not like god your child may love you but not like god your mama may love you but not like god can't nobody love you like god loves you nothing compares with god's love watch this no matter what kind of love you've experienced on earth from a boo a bay a spouse a child a parent everyone who loves you has a line that once you cross you've jeopardized their love no matter who it is no matter what vow they took no matter how long y'all been married there's a line that once you cross over that line you've jeopardized their love um you can't cheat on me but so much before i stop loving you you can't steal from me but so much before i stop loving you you can't lie to me but so much before i stop loving you because at a certain point when you cross the line watch this loving you jeopardizes me loving you threatens my identity loving you is killing me and you can push me to a place where i have to stop loving you because of who you are it now threatens who i am let me tell you how and why god loves you differently because there's nothing you can do that threatens who god is there's nothing you can do that jeopardizes god's sovereignty there's nothing you can do that threatens god's omnipotence there's nothing you can do that makes god feel like god is losing himself in loving you so god loves you because loving you never threatens him amen that's why he proves that love on the cross of calvary on the cross of calvary god declares definitively for all eternity that i can love you forever and nothing you do no sin you commit no fault you have no mistake you make no ball you drop no addiction you have can cause me to stop loving you how do i know he loves me because while we were yet sinners christ died for the ungodly how do i know he loves me because no greater love has any man than this than that he will lay down his life for a friend how do i know he loves me because god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life how do i know god loves me because of the cross and at the cross god shelters my life with an undeniable and an unbreakable love that says no matter what i go through god loves me so here's what paul says and because of that nothing can separate us that word separate that paul uses his greek word cordizo c-h-o-r-i-z-o and although chriso can be translated as separate a better translation is depart so here's what paul says in one way nothing can depart god's love now now departure departure there are two ways for there to be a departure you ready i can leave you or you can leave me uh when when we depart from one another either you can leave me or i can choose to leave you and here's what paul says god's love never chooses to leave you and if god's love chooses never to leave you can i give you some good howard john wesley advice if god ain't gonna leave you can i give you some good advice if god's not gonna walk away from you can i give you some good advice if god ain't gonna take his hand off of you can i recommend that you don't walk away from god i don't know who i came to preach to on this weekend but i've got some advice for you don't you give up on god don't you quit on god don't you walk away from god don't you break up with god don't you deny god but you ought to hold to god's unchanging ham because nothing can separate us listen god's love is undeniable but can i push it let me go on and push it on this last sermon uh paul asks the question what can separate us mark he then takes time to list all the potential suspects distress hardship tribulation persecution peril danger what's important for you to know is that everything on that first list is something paul has already experienced he he's telling you what he's going through and found out that god still loves him here's what paul really says i've been in hardship and god still loves me i've been persecuted and god still loves me he gives his own list the reason that's important is because this list is not exhaustive the same way paul declared what he went through you can declare what you've gone through that whatever is on your list god still loved you through it so i invite you today to add to the list and know that god still loves you uh layoff he still loves me cancer he still loves me divorce he still loves me broken heartedness he still loves me kovit 19 he still loves me trump administration he still loves me because in all these things we are more than conquerors can i teach bible he lists the experiences he's going through but then when he gets to verse 38 it switches watch this in verse 36 it's a list of what he's going through in verse 38 and 39 it's the powers behind them don't miss us the first list hardship persecution peril distress nakedness famine the second list life death demons angels powers principalities things present things to come height death anything in creation here's what paul declares that not only have you conquered the experience but you can also conquer the powers that fuel the experiences you go through don't you miss this if there's a shout right here that christ has not only conquered the experience but christ has defeated the power oh i feel like shouting right there he didn't just handle the sickness he handled the demon behind it he did not just conquer the hardship he handled the powers behind it christ has conquered the power i know who i came to preach today but i got three words that i want you to tattoo on your wrists you ready it's real simple god is able i don't know who needs to hear that and be reminded but i want you to know that in christ we see a god who is able a god who can handle the powers a god who handles demons a god who casts out earthly authority there is nothing in heaven or hell that can stop what god has decided to do god is able and in jesus not only is god's love affirmed but god's omnipotence is shown because if god can raise jesus from the dead then what in the world are you worried about if christ be resurrected what are you fearful of death has been defeated and with death demons with death powers and principalities with death wickedness and evil our god has shown his omnipotence so someone's saying okay well reverend hold on if he loves me and he's omnipotent you still haven't answered my question why does god allow me to get in these things the answer is simple y'all omnipotence is not proven in what he keeps you from omnipotence is proven in what he brings you through that that the omnipotence of god is not seen and never getting in these things the omnipotence of god is seen and coming out of these things anybody can bring good out of good but only an omnipotent sovereign god can allow you to enter these things and still cause you to have joy and still cause you to wake up praising his name and still bless you in the midst of it is there anybody here who's a living witness that in these things god still made a way in these things god still brought me out in these things god still blessed my life in these things i am more than a conqueror and although you may not like this you can never conquer what you don't face you will never see omnipotence until you get in these things you've got to go through it to know what god is able to do okay um let me explain it this way and then i'm done as we start to navigate our way through covid and try to find our new normal one of the things i have to be honest about that i'm happy has returned is football um i've i've missed football and clearly uh not the national football uh because uh the nfc east is the worst division in the history of football right now uh i don't care what team you cheer for we all stink philadelphia new york washington and dallas we all stink so i'm not enjoying professional football but i am enjoying college football oh i'm enjoying college football and last week on saturday night two great things happen number one joe biden was elected president of the united states of america and that brought a shout to my spirit but number two notre dame was playing clemson notre dame was playing clemson last week notre dame's playing clemson i need to let you know from a child i've always been a notre dame fan i've always liked notre dame always like notre dame and i gotta be honest i don't like clemson i'm i'm not a big clemson fan so i was cheering for notre dame versus clemson now if you were paying attention to college football you know that clemson has an athlete that's going to win the heisman trophy and arguably be the number one draft pick in the nfl his name is trevor lawrence trevor lawrence is a bad man pajama trevor lawrence reminds me of sunshine from remember the titans trevor lawrence is a bad athlete with a bad arm that is some kind of football player if you were watching you saw however that trevor lawrence did not play in the notre dame game no why because trevor lawrence tested positive for covid before the game and based on sec protocols he was not excuse me acc protocols he was not allowed to play in the game because he had covet 19. well the game went on without trevor lawrence notre dame and clemson played and sam it went into double overtime it was some kind of game it did not end to almost midnight and in double overtime notre dame finally beat clemson clemson was number one and notre dame beat them clemson had an unbeaten winning streak and notre dame beat them clemson had not lost the game in 30 some odd games and notre dame beat them notre dame beat clemson and i woke up that sunday morning excited cause notre dame had beat clemson i was watching sportscenter and they took all the joy out of my heart notre dame had finally beat clemson and this is what one the commentators had the audacity to say notre dame will never be the national champ until they face clemson with trevor lawrence they won but they didn't face the baddest man on the planet they won but they didn't face the heisman trophy candidate they won but they didn't face the one who's going to be the number one draft pick until they conquer trevor lawrence they will never be the champion it just went right over your head until you face it until you deal with it until you come through it you are not a conqueror but thanks be to god that when you face sickness when you face hardship when you face persecution when you face it and come through it then you can say i'm more than a conqueror i'm looking for somebody over this weekend who's been there and come through it and can give god glory and declare i am more than a conqueror it's simple y'all his love is unquestionable and his omnipotence is unbreakable in these things we are more than conquerors so i don't know what this is for you but it's simple face tomorrow knowing you're more than a conqueror look your trouble in the eye and talk back to it see the pain you're dealing with and tell it i am more than a conqueror because nothing can separate me from the love of god that's in christ jesus amen

Channel: Alfred Street Baptist Church

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Id: 9Ahcv-YvGG0

Length: 43min 34sec (2614 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 03 2020