Romans 8:28-39
28 And we know that
all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose. 29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did
predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the
firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he
also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified,
them he also glorified. 31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be
for us, who can be against us? 32 He that spared not 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 lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that
justifieth. 34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather,
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh
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 thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are
accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more
than conquerors through him that 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 creature,
shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our
Lord.
Max Lucado is one of the most prolific Christian writers of
this generation. He can take the most complex theological thought, and with a
simple phrase or illustration bring its truth to light for any reader of any
age to grasp. If you have read his
books, then you have probably read about Chippie the parakeet.
"Chippie never saw it coming. One second, he was
peacefully perched in his cage, sending a song into the air; the next second,
he was sucked in, washed up, and blown over.
Chippie’s problem began when his owner decided to clean his
cage with a vacuum. She had stuck the nozzle in to suck up the seeds and
feathers at the bottom of the cage when the nearby telephone rang.
Instinctively she turned to pick it up. She had barely said hello when--swoop!
Chippie got sucked in.
She gasped, let the phone drop, and switched off the
vacuum. With her heart in her mouth, she unzipped the bag. There was
Chippie--alive but stunned--covered with heavy gray dust. She grabbed him and
rushed to the bathtub, turned on the faucet full blast, and held Chippie under
a torrent of ice-cold water, power washing him clean. Then it dawned on her
that Chippie was soaking wet and shivering. So, she did what any compassionate
pet owner would do: she snatched up the hair dryer and blasted him with hot
air. Did Chippie survive? Yes, but he doesn't sing much anymore. He just sits
and stares a lot. It's not hard to see why. Sucked in, washed up, and blown
over! It's enough to steal the song from any stout heart."
Life is like that sometimes. You never see it coming, but
life just sucks you in, washes you up, and blows you over.
I must admit that the last few years have been a pretty good
to me. I found a church and a pastor that love me and have accepted me with
open arms. I finished my doctorate, got my dissertation published, and God has
opened the door for me to minister again despite my failures. I have a new job
working with men who love Jesus. All in all, God has been so good to me.
Yet at the same time I have also faced some serious health issues.
I won’t go into detail about these because I don’t feel I need to, I will just
say for future was unsure for several months this year. I was unable to write,
many times unable to work or go to church.
God’s healing power touched me, and I was feeling pretty
good. Then, I wrecked my motorcycle in August. I was on my way to work at 5
a.m. enjoying some good worship music and contemplating the blessing of the
cool morning air amid a hot Mississippi summer. As I came around a dark corner
I hit a patch of sand that had been spilled in the road, it might as well have
been ice. I went down hard. The bike, which I had flipped trying to keep it up,
land on me and broke six of my ribs and punctured my lung. Worst pain I have
ever felt in my life. Like Chippie, I felt knocked down, washed up, and blown
over.
It’s funny how life is like that. One minute you are riding
a wave of blessing, and the next minute, an unseen pitfall changes everything.
I don’t now about you, but when faced with these unexpected trials, but I asked
God the normal questions:
God, what have I done to deserve this? Where are you, and
why don’t you answer my prayer? God, Is there any hope?
When the Apostle Paul wrote his letter to the church in Rome,
the readers were asking the same questions you and I ask when life seems
unbearably hard. All they wanted to do was to live their lives faithfully for
Jesus, and the harder they tried the more difficult the challenges and hotter
the furnace of affliction. I imagine they felt as if they were knocked down,
washed up, and blown over.
Amid all this Paul makes clear our victory in Christ. He affirms
this fact with a series of rhetorical questions, beginning with “31What then
shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”
Paul is not casting doubt on whether God is for the
believer. He is using a traditional rabbinical method of teaching to bring home
the undeniable fact, GOD IS FOR US!
What does look like that God is for you?
When God is for you,
your past does not CONDEMN you.
Joseph was a young man simply doing his father’s bidding.
When he turned around, his own brothers betrayed him and sold him into slavery.
Then while simply doing his job, he is falsely accused of rape, and imprisoned
without trial. To make matters even more unbearable, when he helps a friend he
is forgotten by the very one he helped get out of prison and is left to
languish.
For 20 years he waited for God to fulfill His promise of
destiny. For all his faithfulness, it seemed Joseph received only trouble in
return. How would you respond? Would you still feel like following the Lord
after 20 years of tribulation and loneliness?
Years later after he had been taken from prison and promoted
by the king to be Prime Minister of Egypt, he came face to face with his
brothers. When they realized it was Joseph, they were afraid that Joseph would take
his vengeance. Rather than get even with those who had betrayed him, falsely
accused him and forgotten him, Joseph extends his hand of forgiveness to them.
You will remember what he said to his brothers in Genesis 50:19-20
"Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20 You
intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now
being done, the saving of many lives. 21 So then, don't be afraid.”
How could Joseph do that? It is because he knew that GOD WAS
FOR HIM.
When you know God is
for you, YOUR PRESENT PROBLEMS DON’T DISCOURAGE YOU.
Job probably had every reason to blame God and the Devil for
his problems. He was a righteous man who in one day lost his children, his
livelihood, and his health. Many would have succumbed to his wife’s criticism
to curse God and die. But Job never lost his integrity. In fact, while his friends
were trying to find every reason as to why Job was being afflicted, he responds
by declaring in Job 23:
"But if I go to the east, he is not there; if I go to
the west, I do not find him. 9 When he is at work in the north, I do not see
him; when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him. 10 But he knows the
way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.”
How could Job retain so much hope? It is because he realized
that no matter what he experienced in life through it all, GOD IS FOR ME!
When you know God is
for you, YOUR FUTURE DOES NOT SCARE YOU.
Jeremiah has faithfully preached and prophesied God’s word
for decades, hoping beyond hope that his people would listen and repent. Sadly,
after 40 years of preaching, not one convert was recorded in his yearly
ministry report. The city had been vanquished by the Babylonian army. Only a
handful of discouraged people remained. It appeared all hope for Israel’s
future was gone. You would think that in this dark hour, when hardly a soul is
left in the city, Jeremiah would simply close the synagogue doors, hang up his parchment
and go play golf somewhere.
Even during extreme despair and hopelessness, Jeremiah sings
this triumphant song, found in all places, Lamentations 3:19-25.
“I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness
and the gall. 20 I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. 21
Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: 22 Because of the LORD's
great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. 23 They are new
every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24 I say to myself, "The LORD
is my portion; therefore, I will wait for him." 25 The LORD is good to
those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;”
Jeremiah knew then, and it’s still true today, GOD IS FOR
YOU!
The Apostle Paul ends his discourse with a triumphant song,
declaring emphatically “God is for us!” He
did not say that God was, or that God will be, nor did Paul say that God might
be. Paul said that God is—that means God is right now for you. There is no
waiting. There will be no probationary time limit. There is no small print to
wade through. Right now, God is for you!
The proof is indisputable, the cross is proof that God is
for us:
“God did not keep back his own Son, but he gave him for us….
Christ died and was raised to life, and now he is at God's right side, speaking
to him for us. (v.32)”
All that we need and receive from God comes to us because of
His grace that was displayed on the cross. Because God loves us, He cares for
us, and above all, God is for us. The cross is the unspeakable, undeniable
proof that God is for you. The Bible declares:
Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates
his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
1 Peter 3:18 “For Christ died for sins once for all, the
righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God…”
Our biggest obstacle to seeing that God is for us, is that
we’re so familiar with our failures. I want to tell you today, God gave me this
word for some of you that cannot see that God is for you because your too
focused on your failures, I am a living example that God is for you despite
your failures.
The devil will whisper to you: “God might be for other
people, but you’ve done too much wrong. You’ve made too many mistakes; you’ve
made too many poor choices. I can’t really believe that God would be for you …
because God knows all about you.”
The devil is blind to an important fact: Not only is God for
us, not only did Christ die for us, but now in Christ we are JUSTIFIED.
“33 Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It
is God that justifieth.”
This speaks of our present standing before God. While Satan
stands in accusation against us, the Lord Jesus stands in our place. Seeing the
shed blood, the Father looks and sees Jesus and therefore pronounces us
justified. Since Jesus has died for us and the Father has justified us, our
PAST IS COVERED. There is therefore now NO CONDEMNATION to those who are in
Christ Jesus!!!!!!!!!
Then the Apostle concludes that God’s love is enduring.
Nothing can separate us from his love. Yes, there are things that seem to
interfere with our ability to feel His love. Unexpected interruptions to our
view of how life should be, take our focus off God and onto us. In those times
it’s difficult to see that God is for us, because honestly, we’re too busy with
pity.
Recently my pastor preached a message, “The Day That the
Lord Hath made.” The Psalmist proclaimed, ‘This is the day that the Lord hath
made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.”
As our pastor pointed out, it might not be the day you had planned
for yourself, it might not be the day you wanted, but regardless of what occurs
today, it is the day the Lord had planned and so we must rejoice and be glad ”in”
it. How can you rejoice and be glad in sickness, in loss, in financial
hardship? Because God is for us, because He loves us, and nothing can separate us
from that love. So, regardless of our circumstances, we can rejoice and be glad.
After all, “We are more than conquerors…”
