Romans 8:31-39 "The God Who Is for His People"

[Music] i'm going to take a little bit of liberty tonight and i'm going to ask that we start off with a reading that's not listed there i would like for you if you would please to turn in the word of god to joshua chapter 1. joshua chapter 1 that i will refer to in the sermon itself but i thought it would be appropriate at the outset to have us look at these words together and we're going to look at the verses eight and nine they may be very familiar to you if they are then i beg your indulgence if they're not i think you will find these words exceedingly comforting for those of us who live in a time where we seem off balance almost every day now the context is that moses has died joshua is getting ready to lead the children of israel into canaan for what we call the conquest and before that happens he has a bit of a speech that need needs to give to them and this speech is designed specifically to provide them with great comfort as they set out on this undertaking joshua 1 the verses 8 and 9 read this way this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth but you shall meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it for then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success have i not commanded you be strong and courageous do not be frightened and do not be dismayed for the lord your god is with you wherever you go the lord your god is with you wherever you go please keep that in mind now this time we turn over to romans chapter 8. we're working kind of backwards from this morning and our verses are going to be the verses 31 through the end but i want us to start at verse 28 tonight and i'll disclose to you at the outset that in terms of these verses that we're going to read 31-39 we're only going to get to verse 31. this is the very word of the living god to the church of jesus christ paul writes under the inspiration of the holy spirit and he says and we know that for those who love god all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose for those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and those whom he predestined he also called and those whom he called he also justified and those whom he justified he also glorified what then shall we say to these things 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 with him graciously give us all things who shall bring any charge against god's elect it is god who justifies who is to condemn christ jesus is the one who died more than that who was raised who is at the right hand of god who indeed is interceding for us who shall separate us from the love of christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword as it is written for your sake we are being killed all the day long we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered no in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us for i am sure that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of god in christ jesus our lord nothing will be able to separate you from the love of god i don't know how much you look at structures and the way that the bible is structured my mind works that way and so i do the apostle paul began those verses 28 through 30 and that's why i wanted to read them together with five unshakable convictions for the christian and these are convictions that every christian ought to hold near and dear to his and her heart and he started out in a way that is becoming more and more foreign to our society started out with the words and we know we live in a day and age of postmodernism and all the variants and levels of postmodernism where people believe that you can't know anything and yet the scriptures are very very clear that we are to know things as christians and specifically we are to be immersed in god's truth in the verses 29 and 30 the holy spirit presented the church with five undeniable affirmations so we had five unshakeable convictions we had five undeniable affirmations and that was all about faith and it was all about salvation how are people saved and we learned that god's explanation of how man is saved is that it is namely by an eternal plan it's by an eternal purpose and it is by god's grace alone and in that plan and in that purpose god is absolutely sovereign and man is completely responsible now you might wonder how can that be i had a wonderful opportunity of growing up with the grandfather who fought in world war one he was not what we would call today a lettered man although i don't think we should be impressed by all the letters before and after people's names i had a professor who told me that the only thing all those letters before and after a person's name meant was told you how long it took him to get out of school but my grandfather was not what we would call a lettered man but he was a man who had a lot of street smarts i remember walking down a railroad track with him one day and i said to him it looks like those tracks touched down at the end well he said well let's walk down there and find out and we got there and they were the same equidistance that they were before i said but it looks like those tracks down there touch and he said let's go down there and take a look and of course again when we got there they were equal distance apart the church father saint augustine said if you put an oar in the water and you're in a rowboat it looks as if the oar is bent but you take it out and you see that it isn't and i use that as an analogy for the absolute sovereignty of god and human responsibility it appears that if god is absolutely sovereign we are robots or we are puppets and maybe you've even heard people say that well i'm not a robot i'm not a puppet and i agree we're not robots and puppets as a matter of fact i have scoured the scriptures and i've never found the word robot in there and i've never found the word puppet in there i have found many times when we are called upon to be morally responsible human beings in the face of god's absolute sovereignty so we have five unconvicted unshakable convictions we have five undeniable affirmations about faith and salvation and what are those well we're told that god for knew his people that's the first thing god for knew us i want you to see that word not as god looking down the tunnel of time and seeing who would believe and who would not believe and then based on that electing them or not electing them i want you to see that word for new and think of it as you go forward think of it always as for loved god for loved his people why why did god for love his people he did it because he's god it was a perfect choice god does everything always perfectly and when god foreloves those who are not lovely and when god foreloves those who for no reason he's compelled to love them we can simply say for knowledge means he for loved his people and then he predestined them and then he called them and then he justified them and then he glorified them now i don't know if you've ever paid much attention to that particular string of salvation but one of the things that's very striking about that in that for knowing and calling and predestining and justifying and glorifying and all of that every one of those words in the greek text is in the past tense now the implication of that is our glorification is so assured that the holy spirit put it in the past tense everything that is in that glorious chain as the puritans called it of salvation is in the past tense and today we're going to listen to what god teaches his church about five questions and we're really going to only deal with the first question but i'm going to answer the other four for you and i want us to see those together so i'm going to start off with what i'm going to call one of the most effective modes of teaching i think one of the most effective modes of teaching is questions we had a rule in the gleason household growing up and my wife and i would reiterate to the children on a regular basis there are no taboo questions you may ask whatever you like you might not like the answer you get but you may ask whatever you like and paul has done this repeatedly in the book of romans he does this in what we have before us this evening after he's talked about this glorious chain of salvation and the security and the comfort that it brings to those who are saved by grace and by grace alone in verse 31 he says this what then shall we say to these things that's a great question to ask what shall we say to these things it's not the first time that paul has done this in this letter to the church in rome as he transitioned from chapter five into chapter six he opened the sixth chapter with these words what shall we say then he's talked in that fifth chapter about how god died for his enemies christ died for his enemies and how he died for sinners and how he died for the ungodly and then he had this long section from verse 12 to verse 21 and chapter 5 about the first and the second adam and so then he comes to all of that in summary he looks at the congregation he says so what shall we say about that why was he asking that question he was asking it because there were those in the congregation in rome who wrongly believed that they should continue in sin so that god's grace might abound all the more they sinned with a high hand they sinned because they were antinomians they send because they wanted to they sinned because it made them feel good the congregation needed to remain teachable as a matter of fact i have this acronym i think the congregation any congregation anywhere anytime needs to remain fat faithful approachable and teachable and to the extent and i have seen this happen and i've been in congregations like that to the extent that any congregation believes that well now we've arrived we have just arrived and everything is fine you stop learning you stop learning especially from the word of god and so it's in that same sixth chapter that paul asked then what then again he's seeking an answer to a question that was living and alive and viable in the congregation and that question was this are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace and there were obviously people who were teaching that it's okay to go out and sin with a high hand why well because god is a forgiving god god is a loving god and i've actually heard people say this it's his business to forgive sin god is not in business he's not in the business of forgiving your sin or my sin but he does forgive sin and for that we can all be very very thankful in the seventh chapter paul returns to this method of asking questions of the the congregation he comes there he says so what then shall we say he's trying to engage the congregation not just to stand there and and teach them and talk to them and tell them about the things of god but he's trying to engage them he wants feedback he wants them to think through things he wants to dialogue with them about this not necessarily in the worship service but certainly in the teaching function of what he was doing as an apostle what was the issue this time the question that arose probably from the gentiles was well it sounds like paul since the jews are saved by grace and we're saved by grace that the law was sin and that's the question is the law of sin and paul says he uses a very strong two greek words that appear repeatedly in the book of romans and those little words are may genoito i don't want you to remember those words but i do want you to remember that they constitute a very strong negative may it never be by no means absolutely not we should not go on sinning because the law is sin or we should not go on doing the things that we're supposed not supposed to do because we're no longer under law but we're now under grace so this glorious chain that's already in the past tense describes how god saves sinners and it describes it in such a way that is simple that is clear and that is easily understandable the word of god is so simple that a young child can pick it up and read it and comprehend the basic message simultaneously it is so deep and so profound that the greatest scholar in the world can do no more than just scratch the surface of the truth that's contained in the scriptures but even in that simple and plain language there have been those who have distorted and twisted the words there to have it say and mean things that it does not say and mean if you've had conversations with others and i'll tell you the conversation some of the conversations that i have had that go like this you read something to a person from the bible you read that and the response is well my god would never do that you feel like kind of jumping up and down a little bit getting a little bit exercise saying i just read it to you from the bible so we learned that paul uses questions to make us pause make us reflect upon the one true gospel of jesus christ think about that paul is saying he has as we mentioned earlier in galatians chapter 1 paul is adamant that there is just one one true gospel it's the gospel that we find in the scriptures we don't have to go to tv evangelists to find it but we do have to measure everything that's being said and everything that we're saying and doing according to that one standard of measure paul is unyielding in his assertion that there is but one gospel sometimes i smile and reflect upon when i hear people say oh it's been so wonderful to have paul as our pastor he wouldn't last a year in most evangelical churches today he would be gone in a heartbeat why because paul was very direct paul called a spade a dirty shovel he said things that people didn't like and i have colleagues and i'm sure the not the original pastor gleason but the other pastor gleason has colleagues as well that will spend if they have a 30-minute sermon they will spend 28 minutes apologizing if they're teaching on the text of what a woman may or may not do in the church what do you think paul would have said if you would have walked up to paul and said hey paul do you think it's okay for a woman to be a pastor he had already he would said you need to go back and read my pastoral epistles i've made it very very plain or you could read my first letter to the corinthians i've made it very very plain and i'm unyielding on that because god is unyielding on that and so your real argument is not with me the apostle paul or not with the pastor your real argument is with god there is also no such thing as your truth and my truth if you encounter people that say to you well that's your truth but my truth isn't that way you know immediately you're no longer talking in the realm of truth you're talking about opinion there is god's truth and it is divine in its origin and it's divine in everything that it teaches so what are those questions well as we come to these questions these five other questions that we need to deal with but i think that are very important for us because we're in a time as the christian church where every day it seems like something is throwing us off balance every day something is coming at us and we think okay well yesterday it was it was going to be over but then we get to today and there's something new and then the next day there's something new and there's next day is there's something new again and again and again and we need to keep in mind we need to keep a laser-like focus on the truth that christ loves his church he shed his blood for his church he will never abandon his church he will never leave his church he will never forsake his church and so in the midst of that our loving savior wants to comfort the church of jesus christ and he does that i believe through these questions that we're going to look at briefly john calvin once wrote he says that the holy spirit placed these particular words right here in scripture and calvin was a man who believed that there was not one word that was out of place in the scriptures every word was there for a divine reason and the holy spirit put these words here says calvin to prove that we should not be despondent in the face of adversity irrespective of what the adversity is irrespective of how bleak it looks in life and as we move through these verses as we heard this morning i think we're going to see once again without a doubt the unexplained and yet wonderful goodness of god and causing us to ponder these questions the questions in the verses 31 through 39 are questions that you and i ought to ponder every day we ought to turn there every day and ask our start our day with those questions and if you're thinking to yourself well he has no idea just how busy i am well maybe i don't but my wife and i has had six children given to us by god and so we understand busyness we have 19 grandchildren so we understand busyness and as we said that we have 12 great grands almost and so i understand that that concept but if you and i are too busy to start our day with spiritual things then i'm going to say we're too busy if we don't have time to ask ourselves five questions then we need to rearrange our schedules i don't know if you know this but if i'm not a fan of pop tarts i don't eat them but you can toast them or you can microwave them if your schedule is so full that you have to microwave a pop-tart you probably need to rearrange your schedule martin luther the reformer always had these great zingers that he would put out and one of them went this way i have an awful lot to do today now most of us in our time would probably complete that thought by saying that i really have to get after i'm going to really have to get cracking here because i have a lot to do today luther said i have a lot to do today therefore i need to pray a lot that sounds so counterintuitive but it isn't luther also and this is no extra charge for this luther also said that every christian ought to read the book of ecclesiastes every day because it's all about life it's life under the sun so let me give you the the questions and i'm going to ask you to do your homework and go through them so here's the question number one if god is for us who can be against us if god is for us who can be against us and the answer is no one question number two 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 and the answer is he will question three who will bring any charge against those whom god has chosen no one question four who is he that condemns paul's just been talking about justification who is to condemn the work of salvation is so complete justification is a one-time event where we are passive it is so complete that when the question arises well who can condemn no one because in christ the father has wiped our slate clean who is he that condemns no one and the same answer comes to question number five who shall separate us from the love of christ no one ever so let's look at the very first one and see what we can learn from that if god is for us who can be against us it's interesting isn't it how this question is formulated because if paul had merely asked who is against us we could spend most of today and probably most of tomorrow and then part of the day after that listening listing all of those who are against us those who are against us are legion for they are many we're living in a world and a time in a day and age where religious liberty is shrinking and could very well completely disappear there are chinese christians in mainland china today that have zero religious freedoms the propaganda machine may tell us that they do but they don't the pastors there are required it's not an option they are required to attend a marxist seminary we might also get easily caught up in recounting the the power of un indwelling sin that paul paul talked about in chapter seven and remember what paul says to us in the armor of god's section and ephesians six the verses ten through thirteen he says this he says finally be strong in the lord and in the strength of his might that's the opening statement and that's the key to understanding spiritual warfare be strong in the lord and in the strength of his might put on the whole armor of god that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil what does that mean the schemes of the devil if we go back to the original text the word that is there for that's translated schemes or sometimes in the older translations wiles is the word from which we get our english word methodology what does that mean it means that satan goes to work on every person in a methodological systematic way he knows often better than you and i know where the chinks and our armor are where our weaknesses are he is not a fair opponent he will go for the jugular every time if you are down he will kick you he goes to work that way and we're reminded for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against the rulers against the authorities against the cosmic powers over this present darkness against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places therefore take up the whole armor of god that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand firm take up the whole armor of god the panoply of the armor of god you imagine a soldier on the battlefield without his rifle without his protective body armor without extra ammunition he's going out on the battlefield ill-prepared take up the whole armor of god that you may be able to withstand in the evil day when those methodologies come your way satan is host the world in its ways the old man of the flesh are all allied against us and to make matters worse we've got satan okay we got the world the world hates us but there is a trojan horse and the trojan horse is the old man of the sin and flesh that's still within us that indwelling sin that we still fight against constantly and those attacks are unrelenting aren't they so if the question had been asked who is against us the list could indeed be a very very long list but the holy spirit inspired paul to ask a different question if god is for us who can be against us and that is a question that you and i need to ponder as part of our self-examination as we encounter these these things every day if god is for us who can be against us you think well what if he what if he isn't for me then what well let me give you just a different way of explaining this text the greek word that's often translated if does not mean if like in english if it's not raining tomorrow we'll have a picnic but the word if in greek more commonly is translated sense now see how that changes the whole thing since god is for us who can be against us and that little greek word makes all the difference in the world since god is for us who can be against us think about that for all of your life since you are a christian by grace since god is for you who can really really be against you can anything or anybody really be against you and it's questions like this that ought to bring us back to the basics of christianity to the fundamental truths of the faith psalm 56 verse 9 reads this way this i know that god is for me brothers and sisters do you have that confidence as you go through life and you go through the vicissitudes of life as you go through the ups and downs of life do you have that surety this i know that god is for me often we come with our excuses yeah but he i'm such a sinner i i get tempted and i fall yes that's why christ came and died on the cross since god is for us who can be against us with god on our side we need not fear psalm 118 verses 6 and 7 the lord is on my side i will not fear what can man do to me the lord is on my side as my helper i shall look and triumph on those who hate me and paul is saying to the early church in rome and he's saying to us by extension today these particular things remember what i just told you about your salvation your loving god has foreloved you he has predestined you he has called you he has justified you he has glorified you and since since that is the gospel truth who in the world do you think could be against you all of the powers of the evil one and of hell itself may be arrayed against us but they will never prevail since god is on our side there are many today who are vexed who are apprehensive who are confused and who are just downright weary of being locked down and told what to do and where to go and what you can't do and what you can do and add to that multitude of enemies that oppose us the number of people who are spiritually in a quandary what are christians to do that's a great question and it has a biblical answer the biblical answer is immerse yourself in the word of god every day my good friend from ligonier ministries r.c sproul that every two years they do and maybe some of you saw this they do a state of theology not a test it's it's a they do an inspection of what's going on in the evangelical church in the church in general and it's a great big survey and it's very valid the last survey they did it was determined that 30 percent of those who profess to be evangelicals do not believe that jesus is god when times are tough and either sorrow or confusion take hold of our minds and drive away confidence and consolation paul says that a deeper spiritual principle ought to be inquired after and sought after we have a shield we have a helper we have a defender we have a protector and he is divine and his name is yahweh and his name is jesus christ paul says that we ought to be seeking these deeper spiritual principles the church must preach and teach the word of god not human opinion but what the holy spirit has recorded for us in the deposit of faith that we call the bible paul's lead question is the chief question of a main support which sustains us in every temptation sustains us in every trial sustains us in every tribulation and in every persecution god's favor alone is sufficient for every sorrow we will ever encounter it is a protection that is sufficiently strong against all the storms of adversity that will batter us in this life you remember what jesus said at the end of the sermon on the mount where he compared the two types of houses one man built his house upon the stone he dug down deep he laid the foundation the other man built his house upon the sand the kids know the the song the rains came and the house on the sand fell flat storms and adversity will come in life and they will batter us in this life and yet there is no power either under or above the heavens that can resist the arm of the god who loves his church and the individual members of his church and having the true and the living god is our defender by grace and by grace alone we need not fear any harm whatsoever i want us to ponder that question as we go into this week since god is for us who can be against us it is one of the most freeing questions we could ever ask ourselves it orients our lives it orients our purpose in this life it sets us on the right path the holy spirit has clearly explained to us how and why we are christians we were foreloved we were predestined we were called we were justified we were glorified and that being the case and it is god has placed us in his household of love by adoption and has reminded us this evening that since he is for us we need fear no harm at all and therefore loved ones when fears arise within us may we with all the saints that have gone before us rely solely on the power of our god please pray with me

Channel: Cliffwood Presbyterian Church

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Length: 41min 38sec (2498 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 14 2021