Sunday Morning Service

Romans 8:28-39 (Click scripture reference for audio access)

"As Sure As Sure Can Be!"  •  5.13.12  •  Sunday Morning Service, Calvary Christian Fellowship

Intro.

- There are moments in this section where I imagine Paul jumping up and down with glee, because of the greatness of what is being revealed to him concerning salvation.

- In our minds, salvation would be enough if it kept us out of hell. We would settle for that! That however, is not nearly glorious enough for God!

- What we are about to read is God's view of salvation. What does He think about? What is He hoping to accomplish in us? What makes Him so sure? This is Paul's case for a God size salvation.

- We'll break it down into three sections, though each verse could be it's own sermon!

I. The Principle Behind Salvation (v.28)

II. The Purpose In Salvation (v.29,30)

III. The Power To Complete Salvation (v.31-39)

Text

I. The Principle Behind Salvation (v.28)

• Romans 8:28 : "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." : Listen to Paul's confidence for us: We know! This is common knowledge among believers.

- God is working on the behalf of the believer. This could read that we know that God causes all things to work for, to accomplish good! We know this. We are confident of this.

- Notice what things. All things! The word is all inclusive, speaking to any and every thing! Every circumstance, any situation applies and is to be counted in this word.

- All things work together. God is causing all that happens to work in conjunction with His good plan. All things in combination bring about good in a believer's life.

- Understand that not all things are good. This is not a promise that bad things will never happen to you, nor does it ignore the pain that certain scenarios present.

- There are bad things that happen to God's people and it has been so through the ages! Every Christian can expect that to be the case. Being human and living in a fallen world guarantees that!

- Remember that Paul has just been talking about suffering and groaning which is a proof of our union with Christ. They are not worthy to be compared with glory, but they are worthless either!

- Consider Joseph who uttered words very similar to this in Genesis 50.

- Joseph's father, Jacob, has died and Joseph's brothers expect their brother to exact revenge against them. They come begging Joseph to treat them like servants, hoping to save their lives.

- Joseph replies that he is not in the place of God and that while they meant evil against him, God meant it for God. (Genesis 50:20)

- Their action against Joseph was evil, their intention was evil, but God turned it around for good! That is what God does for those who love Him.

- They have the assurance that however difficult and horrifying their story is, they will be able to look back and see the sense that God made of their situations.

- This is a sure promise to Christians, who are defined first as those who love God! What does it mean to love God? Do we have nice feelings toward Him?

- We love God by obeying His commands, both principally and personally. I love God by taking His Word and conforming my life to it! What it says to forsake, I forsake. What it says to add, I add!

- On the other hand, when I personally hear the voice of the Holy Spirit applying His Word in a given situation, leading me to act personally, I show my love to God by submiting in that moment.

- We love God this way. This is His love language! We also love the Lord by loving one another, which shows further that we love what God loves!

- The second word that describes a believer is that they are called. The word means "invited" or "selected." You've been picked out by God.

- Those who love God are those who have been invited according to His purpose. Why were you picked out? For His purpose. On account of something that originated in Him.

- What is His purpose? Why did He save you? Paul answers in our next section.

II. The Purpose In Salvation (v.29,30)

• Romans 8:29,30 : "For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified." :  Whom He foreknew. The word speaks to intimate, loving acquaintance. Before we knew ourselves, He knew us!

- When this word is used elsewhere in scripture, it speaks to foreordination of events, such as what we see in Acts 2:23, when Peter speaks of God's determinate counsel and foreknowledge.

- He knew who His people were and He also acted on our behalf!

- These He also predestined or marked out before, that they would be conformed to the image of His Son. He decided on your behalf that you would be conformed to Christ's image!

- This is the purpose of God in predestination. That is what He defines as "good." He wants you to resemble the icon, the template. He wants your life to look like His!

- You are being fashioned into His likeness! He is working in your life to bring about a reflection of His Son, in order that Jesus might be the firstborn among many brethren!

- When we think of the word "firstborn," don't think of chronology. Think of prominence or in this case, pre-eminence!

- In the Old Testament, the eldest received a double portion of His Father's inheritance and the privilege and honor of leading the family spiritually!

- God has brought you into His own family and your brother is the one who has received all the riches and power of the God of the Universe!

- What a beautiful statement! Before we were born, God knew us and enacted a plan that would end in our expressing His image, being brought into His very family!

- Now, listen to this amazing, incomprehensible statement that Paul makes. Whom God predestined, these He also called.

- Here is where we came into the picture. At some point in our experience, we received a call from the Lord that we responded to, but Paul lets us know that it was HIs call!

- He called and His people responded and are responding by faith in Christ Jesus!

- He invited you into fellowship with Him and when you responed, He justified, gave you Christ's righteousness!

- How close are those things in the mind of God? One person remarked that it was akin to shooting a bullet and separating a piece of paper!

- In the mind of God, that invitation, that call, happened and His justification happened right after it! God knows no frustration as we do in time.

- In His mind, He simply calls and that person is justified. We think of God wrangling and wrestling with someone because of the struggle we observe from this side of heaven.

- To God, there is the decision to call and the decision to justify! That transaction is simple!

- Hear Paul's words: These He justified, these same ones, He also glorified! He made them glorious, adorned them with splendor, made them illustrious!

- In God's mind, salvation is completed! If you have been justified, it's only a matter of time in your experience, that you will be glorified. To God, it is a foregone conclusion!

- You cannot have one without the other! Justification naturally leads to glorification!

- Paul in one sentence, delineates the entire work of salvation history for every person that has ever been saved!

- Paul takes us from before you were born and notes that God foreknew and predestinated you. To you and I, this was past, before the foundations of the world!

- Then, we come to the present and His work in you to call, justify and with it implicitly, to sanctify. Then, the future promise of glorification that Paul says is already fulfilled in the mind of God!

- When I am asked by people if they can lose their salvation, I can't help but think of this verse.

- Those who are saved, who reveal that by believing in Christ and walking according to the Spirit, violently shunning the flesh, have a security that is rock solid!

- God says nothing toward those who are not in Christ! There is no assurance for them, but you and I need to revel in this verse and know God's intention toward you!

III. The Power To Complete Salvation (v.31-39)

•  Romans 8:31 : "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?" : Here is a great question. What are we to conclude about these declarations, these statements about what God has revealed through Paul regarding salvation?

- Many have chosen to argue. Many have chosen to explain away God's Word. Many have chosen to take sides with men.

- Sadly, many have divided the body of Christ because of these precious verses. What will we say to these things? I want to be on Paul's side and say that the answer is clear!

- God is for us to such a degree that nobody can be against us! He has stacked the deck so greatly on our side, that nothing can hinder His glorious plan for His body, His church!

•  Romans 8:32 : "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?" : God did not keep His own Son. He did not hold Him back from being our sacrifice.

- He delivered Him up for us all! He allowed Jesus to be treated in the most despicable way imaginable, so that we could be in the privileged position that we are in today!

- If that is what God has already done for us, how much more shall He now do this! He will, with Christ, bestow on us freely all of these things.

- The word "freely give" comes from a word related to grace. How shall God not benevolently, graciously extend these things toward His people!

- What things? What does Paul refer to? Justification. Sanctification. Glorification! These are His gifts to give. No one else can give them but Him!

- What is Paul saying here? God has already done the greatest thing. He has already worked in an enormous way on our behalf, allowing His own Son who He did not have to give, for us.

- If He did that just to save us, how much more will He now do what it takes to keep us!

- The power of our salvation begins with the fact that He is for us! He is for you! He is on our side and has been, proving it by Christ's work on the cross.

•  Romans 8:33,34  :  "Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 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." : Who will come forward and bring an accusation against God's elect, His choice or chosen ones? Who is this referring to?

- The "who shall bring," is anyone, especially Satan, who lives to bring accusations against the Lord's chosen ones. Who are God's elect? Listen to the next phrase: It is God who justifies!

- The elect ones are those who God justifies! That my friends, means you and I! Paul's thinking is simple: Who can override a decision made by the Supreme Court of the Universe?

- Someone will bring a charge, but it won't work! They will not succeed in altering the decision!

- Who can come in and have the power to rebuke God's decision concerning you? Who can judge you worthy of punishment? God is the Judge and Christ is our lawyer!

- Christ has died to free you from sin. Christ rose for your righteousness. He sits at the right hand of God, the privileged position in the Universe and He stands to make intercession for us!

- If anybody could do it, it is Jesus! All judgment is conferred to Him. If He is the one standing there defending you, how can He be the one accusing you?

- One commentator mentioned that when Satan comes to accuse, he always leaves frustrated because that whole thing is rigged up there to our advantage!

•  Romans 8:35,36 :  "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: 'For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.'" :  Is there anyone who can successfully bring an accusation? Paul has said "no." If not anyone, how about anything?

- What can divide or divorce us from Christ? What can tear us out from His love? We are His bride. Who experience has the power to draw us away?

- Paul personifies our enemies. Would tribulation draw us out from the love of Christ? Pressure, affliction, oppression. The word refers to a man backed into a corner with nowhere to go!

- If not pressure, perhaps distress. This word refers to a narrowness of space. The difference between pressures and distress is external and internal.

- Pressures come from without, family, friends and co-workers. Distress comes from internal desires and temptations, both of which are daily struggles that Christians face.

- Could they increase to a level that would dislodge us from our Lord's side?

- Maybe persecution. Every time this word is used in the New Testament, it's surrounded by a story of beatings and hardships endured in the service of Christ.

- Neither pressures or persecution. What about poverty? What about famine and nakedness?

- This word refers to a scarcity of food, which would bespeak a destitute and a beggarly position. Nakedness speaks of a want of clothing or appropriate apparel.

- Both speak of abject poverty, but peril speaks of danger and the sword, the assassin's dagger, speaks of peril unto death! Shall any of these things separate us from the love of Christ?

- Before he answers that, he assures our hearts that this is the way a Christian life is lived. Paul quotes from Psalm 44:22 to show his point. These things are nothing new!

•  Romans 8:37-39 : "Yet 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 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." : We as Christians are not just conquerors. We are more than conquerors!

- We have more than victory and more than spoil. We have the Lord and His promise to us! Every scar, every battle, far from removing something from us, adds to us!

- Paul is persuaded. He has come to a settled conclusion. He has put it all together and He knows it for a fact!

- Nothing can keep us from the Lord who loves us. Death nor life, for we are hidden in Christ. Our death means life and our life means life!

- Angels, principalities, demonic powers are all subject to our Lord. They serve and obey Him!

- Things that are present and things to come. Circumstances of any kind, in any dimension! The words for height and depth are words that describe a stars zenith and it's farthest point.

- Paul is saying that there is nothing on that side of the universe or on this side of the universe that can separate us from the Lord!

- And just in case you think that YOU can separate you from God, Paul adds, neither by any created being. God covers the gamut! None can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus!

Conclusion

- God is using everything in your life and causing it to bring out a more accurate reflection of Christ. He has started this work and He will finish it! There is nothing that you can be more sure of!