3 Pictures of His Blessings in Your Life
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Intro
Intro
Today we are coming to the end of our series of messages through the 8th chapter of hope you have enjoyed and been encouraged through it. Romans * is a special chapter and it teaches us a lot about our life in Christ.
The church in Rome most likely wasn’t one church but a series of house churches that we believed began with the witness and work following the experience of Pentecost. One of those saved carried the message back and lives were changed.
The church in Rome most likely wasn’t one church but a series of house churches that we believed began with the witness and work following the experience of Pentecost. one of those saved carried the message back and lives were changed.
If there is something we can learn from the believers in Rome it is this… Never underestimate your witness and the power of God who works in you.
Now Paul is writing to those believers, teaching and instructing them more in the faith. They has a good church, but like many they needed encouragement, instruction and prayer.
Never underestimate your witness and the power of God who works in you. Now Paul is writing to those believers, teaching and instructing them more in the faith. They has a good church, but like many they needed encouragement, instruction and prayer.
And Paul is helping meet this need… He is teaching them some great doctrinal truths about the Lord, His Holy Spirit and our role in the family of God.
Now at the end of this chapter, this portion of His letter we find that he is assuring them of God’s love and in particular, three ways we will look at today. I hope you enjoy them, I hope it blesses your heart and helps you today.
So lets get your Bibles out… and lets look at .. verses 31-39
Did you bring your Bible...
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 gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 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. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 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.
Wow, what encouragement, that Paul gives to these believers, so lets walk through the text and see what the Lord would say to you today.
So here is the first thought today...
1. God is for Us...
1. God is for Us...
He is one of the most promising thoughts we could ever hear in our walk with the Lord Jesus Christ, …listen to this again “God is for us....
Does that encourage you?
Can you imagine how the early church responded to that news as they faced so much uncertainty in the first century. Persecution, isolation and suffering. They truly faced daily difficulities..
But Paul reminds them of hope. Friends, we need to be reminded of that today as well.
Lets look back at our text today.... verses 31 and 32
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 gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
Romans 8:31-
So look at this.... We are given the fact that proves God is for us in verse 32, God we know loves us, is for us and has our eternal life in mind in the truth that God did not spare his own Son. But sent him as a sacrifice for sin.
God knew our need and sought to satisfy His own righteous requirements in regard to law. To pay that sin debt, to declare us righteous, God sent the Son to be our atoning sacrifice, He redeemed us.
We see this in what Paul said to them in chapter 4, verse 25.
25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
In this work, we have the proof that He not only loves us but is for us as well.
In this work, we have the proof that He not only loves us but is for us as well. But when you look back at all that Paul has instructed the church about here in this chapter, we see a great deal more, a rich history of teaching.
Verse 15 we learned that we have been adopted into the family of God, verse 17 tells us that we are co-heirs with Christ,
We have received the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of our final redemption verse 23 and the Holy Spirit even intercedes on our behalf when we do not know how to pray verse 26,
aul has instructed the church about
And even, verse 30 speaks of our future state, the glorification as we step into His presence.
So from our beginning, God has clearly been at work for us, to bless us with love and help.
So consider the question, if God is for us, who can be against us?
There is no need to fear, each day we open our eyes, He is there and He desires the best for his children. If we begin each day with that realization, How will our day be...
And even if our days have trials, His best awaits us… It reminds me that He is always there
11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
He has planned our future, if the current road is difficult, He knows the journey and will walk with us ever step of the way to give us success.
How do I know… Verse 32 reminds me again He has prepared me for that future. Jesus said I go to prepare a place for you, … that where I am, you may be also.
He is for us, from the foundation of the world until now, the Lord is with us.
Now as we continue to move through the text, we see more good news.
Paul says that nothing can separate us from the love of God.
2. Nothing can Separate Us from the Love of God...
2. Nothing can Separate Us from the Love of God...
If there is one thought I could share with you today it is the truth that God loves us… and that love is un-ending, it is powerful and it is lasting.
In this last passage Paul continues to instruct us in the ways of God as they relate to His children. Teaching us more and more about being a child of God who is loved so deeply that He would send His Son to die on our behalf.
Look at verses 33-36
So look with me at verses 33-36
33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 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. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
When I read this passage I am reminded that I was once guilty, I was once a person who stood condemned, charges were present and without a doubt, I was guilty, why? I was lost, I didn’t have Jesus as my Savior... I was born into sin and sin had stained my life.
In the presence of God, I stood condemned...
But God worked on our behalf, in our need be brought relief, He brought salvation.
But Jesus died for the sins of the world and when I found Christ, when I asked Him into my heart, He forgave my sins.. At that point I was no longer guilty.
Jesus died for the sins of the world and when I found Christ, when I asked Him into my heart, He forgave my sins.. At that point I was no longer guilty. I was forgiven, I was justified in His presence.
So Paul says who shall bring any charges against me? against you? We who are the elect of God?
Well we know there is only one accuser, there is only one who seeks to strike a blow against the church of God and that is the ole Devil...
Now listen....Well we know there is only one accuser, there is only one who seeks to strike a blow against the church of God and that is the ole Devil…
10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.
says that he, the devil accuses the brethren day and night before God.
Revelation 12;10
Now we know the Devil will do this.... He would love to tear you down, I know he would love to make you ineffective, weak... but to no avail, God is the one who justifies, and Jesus, Paul says is at the right hand side of God and is interceding for you and me.
Think of that, Jesus is praying o our behalf… lifting us up.
But listen He might poor it on, he might bring challenge after challenge to you, but to no avail. It doesn't drive you away from God, the challenges, the stress, the problems drive us to God.
The true believer is moved deeper and deeper into the arms of Jesus.
Paul says this...
Verses 35b-36
Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
Those things we fear, for the true child of God, has no power in us in comparison to the love and life of Jesus Christ! Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
God will never leave or forsake His children, He loves us unconditionally.
Aren’t you thankful for that my friends?
Aren’t you thankful for that my friends?
Now lets explore my last thought my friends, Paul expresses this last thought in our text today.
3. We are More than Conquerors through Christ.
3. We are More than Conquerors through Christ.
Here is a question for you, who often do you feel like your winning, your succeeding? I think to often we think, man,I’m failing, i cant get this… But here is the good news, its way better than you think, if you are in Christ, you’re winning!
Lets think about the first century church.. They were facing a lot of difficulties and in spite of all that is happening, Paul assures them that they are victorious.
In spite of all that is happening in the lives of the first century church, Paul assures them that they are victorious.
Consider that for a minute my friends, in the difficulties of life, if we are in Christ, we are victorious! That is a truth we don't readily consider my friends, or if we do, not often enough.
Let’s go back to our text and see what Paul is telling them and us....
Verses 37-39
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 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.
Paul beings with the word No, in those previous hardships like those Paul shared at the end of verses 36, we see he draws from the words of the Psalmist...
is what he has shared..
22 Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.
He felt like those words were appropriate to his life and the lives of these believers… The trouble they faced was nothing new to them.. at any moment they could face death… they are really no better than sheep being prepared for the slaughter.
But regardless, they were winning!
Those are wild words… why? because to often, they didn’t feel this way and neither do we....
We are winning! Christ died for us, and in His death, burial and resurrection, we know His great love for us and we understand our life in Him.
It is the love of God that enables us to face adversity and to overcome it.
Listen, we are not zombies who are just wandering our way through life… bumping into here and there and some how we might make it … No!
We are in Christ.. that changes everything, His presence in our life enables us to overcome the obstacles of life, His presence in us empowers us.
Now we know like Paul did that God is at work with us in those circumstances to conform us, shape us into the image of the Son. It might take some pruning, like that mentioned in
2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
But he does so that we might walk in Him and experience the love of God
Jesus is everything my friends, a friend of ours once said Jesus + nothing = Everything!
Our life in Him is all that is needed to walk in victory in a dark and twisted world.
Now listen, just how great is Jesus in us… look at verses 38-39 once more
Romans 8:
38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 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.
How wonderful are the words of Paul,He is confident there is nothing in this life, physical or spiritual that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
Nothing can drive a wedge between us and the love of our heavenly Father.
Here is the best… We are His and He is ours and that will never change....
Nothing can separate us from His great love....
We will overcome, we will be victorious and we will walk in Jesus!
God is for you, Nothing can separate us from His great love and we are victorious in Jesus....
Now let me ask you today, in your difficulty, What has been been doing in your life?
What have your learned in those circumstances...
What has the Lord ben calling you to do...
What us your response today....