Sunday Sermon: Who Can Be Against Us (Romans 8:31-36)

You're listening to the preaching ministry of Gabriel Hughes, pastor of Providence Reformed Baptist Church in Casa Grande, Arizona. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday on this podcast we feature teaching through a New Testament book, an Old Testament book on Thursday and our Q &A on Friday.

Each Sunday we are pleased to present our sermon series. Here is Pastor Gabe.

Romans 8:31-39 and the Assurance of Salvation

Well good morning.

Good morning.

As we come back to our study of the book of Romans, we're going to be finishing up chapter eight between this week and next week. So if you'll open your Bible once again to Romans chapter eight, we have one more portion to finish up verses 31 to 39 and we're going to break this into two parts, which I'll explain to you here in just a moment.

When the Puritan, the English Puritan Thomas Manton was preaching through Romans chapter eight, he did a different sermon per verse. So being that there's 39 verses in Romans eight, it was 39 sermons that he did.

I didn't quite do that many. But as he was transitioning from preaching on what we had understood and identified as the golden chain of redemption over the last couple of weeks, as he was going from that into verses 31 to 39, he said the following, the God of our salvation discontinues not his care over us till he hath brought us into his immediate presence.

Here God is with us while we dwell in houses of clay. There we are with God forever in his glory. If he be here with us, we are to be with him there forever. For we do not part company, but go to him whom we love and serve.

He is with us now, but we will be with him forever in glory in a way manifest to us that we don't get to see now, but we will see one day. And that is the promise that is given to us who will be glorified.

As we read about last week, as we had considered in verse 30, those whom he predestined, he also called those whom he called, he also justified and those whom he justified, he also glorified. Now given that this is our destiny, the question then Paul goes to next is we will explore today and continue on in the next week.

He says, what shall we say to these things? If God is for us, if God is going to accomplish all these things for us and in us through Christ given to us, then who can be against us? And every other question that is asked from that point on, exploring that further.

If God is for us, who can be against us? Let's read it together. This is Romans chapter 8 verses 31 to 39 in honor of the word of the King. Would you please stand? Romans chapter 8 beginning in verse 31.

I'm reading from the English Standard Version. Hear the word of the Lord. 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 a 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.

You may be seated as we pray. Heavenly Father, I am so grateful to you for the reminders that we've been reading lately as we've been going through Romans chapter 8. These promises, these assurances that have been given to us that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

That was the statement that began our study in this chapter, and now even as we come into this section, we look at individual things. Shall this separate us from the love of God? And over and over, the answer to that question being no.

There is nothing that can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ our Lord. You gave your Son for us. A plan that you put forth that will not fail. You will succeed in your purpose. What you mean to achieve through the giving of your Son.

What you mean to accomplish for us. Rescuing us from death, from our sin, from the judgment of God that we deserve. All of these things have been given to us in Christ. And as you gave your Son to accomplish these things, so you will accomplish these things.

And may these be continued comforts and assurances to us as we read these words once again. It is a passage that we've heard many times, probably something that many have marked in their Bibles or written down in particular places to be reminded.

And we need those reminders. For we are weak in our flesh, but you are strong and faithful to deliver on every promise that is given in Christ. It's in His name that we pray, and all God's people said, Amen.

Amen.

Israel’s Fear in the Wilderness and the Call to Trust God

It's in the book of Numbers, chapters 13 and 14, where we read of the spies going into the promised land ahead of the rest of the Israelites to scope out the land. And they're supposed to come back and give a report to everybody as to what it is that they've found.

This is what God has brought us out of Egypt for. Not just to rescue us from slavery, but to give us a land of our very own. The land that He had promised to the descendants of Abraham hundreds of years before.

And now here it was going to come to fruition. So one man was chosen from every tribe, all the 12 tribes of Israel, one spy from each tribe to go into the land and search it out and come give back a report.

Now while they were there, they found this massive cluster of grapes. It had never been seen before. Even with all the prosperity that they had witnessed in Egypt, they had never seen vineyards like this.

It took two men to carry this massive cluster that stretched as big as a man between the two of them. And they brought it back, and they showed it to the people, and the people were awed, and the spies said, Indeed, this is a land that is flowing with milk and honey, just as God had said to us that the land would be.

However, some of those spies said, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are forfeited and are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negev.

The Hittites, the Jebusites, the Amorites dwell in the hill country, and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the Jordan.

They're huge.

They're massive. They're like the Nephilim have come back. And Caleb and Joshua were two men that came forward, and basically they said, Yeah, isn't it great? These are the people God is going to give into our hands.

But the other ten spies said, No, it cannot be done. We're like grasshoppers to them. They are massive. We would never be able to succeed. And the entire population of the Israelites panic over this report.

And they even decide we're going to stone Moses and Aaron because they brought us out of Egypt into this land that we should just die here. Now Joshua and Caleb and Moses and Aaron tore their garments and they pled with the people.

It says in Numbers 14, verse five, Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before the assembly of the congregation of the people. And Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, were among those who had spied out the land.

They tore their clothes and said to the congregation, The land which we passed through to spy it out is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us, he will bring us into the land and will give it to us a land that flows with milk and honey.

Only do not rebel against the Lord and do not fear the people of the land for they are bred for us. Their protection is removed from them and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them. Joshua and Caleb's appeal to the people was essentially this, if God is for us, who are they to stand against us?

But as you know the story, the people were not convinced by the preaching of Joshua and Caleb and they feared man rather than God. These people are huge and it was in their minds that these people are even bigger than our God.

And so God's curse upon the people was that they would wander in the desert for 40 years until that generation had passed away and it would be to their children that they would receive the promised land.

Now may that be a warning to us that we dare not fall into a place of thinking that our God is smaller than any of these things that we face. Whether it's a people in the land or whether it's even death itself.

For God has shown Himself stronger than death by sending His Son to die for us and rise again from the grave. So that in Christ Jesus we have nothing to fear of any of the things that Paul lists here which is a very short list all things considered.

Here in this application of what we've read so far in Romans chapter 8. Now a lot of what we're reading here it's application. It is Paul giving assurance to his hearers. We have nothing to fear. Nothing will separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So if God is for us who can be against us or even what can be against us. Now you might have noticed as we were going through this that Paul asks a series of questions. He asked these questions to put it to the minds of his hearers to challenge us in a.

Sense.

Now let's apply what it is that we've read. We've gone through Romans chapter 8. We've been through eight chapters of Romans and with these eight chapters behind us all of the amens that you've said as we've been going through these sermons over the course of the past year or so.

Do you believe what it is that you've amened? Have you critically thought through some of these things and applied it now and have thought to yourself and have come to understand yes I don't even fear death itself because of all that is given to me in Christ Jesus my Lord.

So some critical thinking questions that are put before us here. Now there are seven question marks in verses 31 through 36. We're going to break it 37 we'll come back to 37 to 39 next week. So seven question marks but really this can be broken down into five questions.

The first one is what then shall we say to these things. Then five more questions that flow out of that and then that seventh question is actually a summary of the sixth or it couples with the sixth. So here's the questions the way that Paul asked them.

If God is this then what? So five times Paul is going to ask that question. If God is this then what? Now it doesn't quite come out in English that way but in a sense that's what we have in these questions.

Let me show it to you. So question number one we have in verse 31. If we're going to break this down into five questions we have it this way. Question one in verse 31. If God is for us who can be against us?

Very simple and straightforward. That is verse 31. But then another question in verse 32. Here's the second one. If God did not spare his own son for us then what good will he withhold from us? Okay third question in verse 33.

If God is the one who justifies who will bring a charge against God's elect? Fourth question in verse 34. If Christ died for us rose again from the dead for us and intercedes at the right hand of God for us who is there to condemn us?

And then a fifth question in verse 35. If Christ loves us who shall separate us from his love? So if God this then what? We have that five times as we go through verses 31 to 36. So those will be our five questions.

And exploring again what the scripture has to say that we can be assured and understand who God is what he has accomplished and what he will do for us so that we know that there's nothing that can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ our Lord.

If God is for us who can be against us? Let's start with that question. So in verse 31 what then shall we say to these things? And again this is coming right off of the expression of the golden chain of redemption that we've had from verses 28 to 30.

Now whenever Paul speaks so matter-of-factly about the sovereignty of God and we have had the doctrine of God's sovereignty in salvation put so pointedly especially in verse 30 there's really no argument that God is predestined whom he's going to save.

And those whom he's going to save he's called them. And those whom he's called he's justified them. Those whom he's justified he's going to glorify them. This is the golden chain of redemption. And as I had put to you in the previous weeks it's not given to us in the sense that you have to accomplish one link in order to move on to the next link.

It's all one chain. It's all or nothing. If God is predestined you you will be glorified and he is not going to fail in that purpose. Now Paul having stated that and laid down this this doctrine of predestination surely there's going to be some arguments to that.

And there are. We get to that in chapter 9. Arguments in the sense of you know there's people that are going to push back against this. Are you are you serious? God is predestined. God is the one who is called.

God is the one who is purpose whether I'm going to follow him or not follow him. Surely some people have some arguments against that. Yep we have those arguments laid out for us in chapter 9. But before we get to those arguments.

Paul is focusing on the sheep here. He is shepherding. He is being very pastoral that his congregation whom he loves that he is speaking to hears and understands these words that he has said first and foremost.

Yes he's laid out this doctrine of predestination. But before we start addressing the arguments I want you to know what this means for you and how secure you are in Christ in light of it. And so we're going to get to the questions later.

But these questions are for the flock. These questions are for you to know that you are in Christ and no one can take it from.

You.

And so he opens with then what shall we say to these things. If God is predestined. If he has glorified then what does that mean for you. What shall we say to this. What will our response to it be. And that's why this therefore is application.

Now it's not application in a practical sense of therefore go and live like this as if there is a call to a certain practice. We don't see a practical living in this in that you know go and pay your taxes.

Now you know it's not it's not something like that. Go therefore and love your neighbor. That's not where Paul goes though we're certainly going to have an instruction on love your neighbor that will come up later on.

Love the body of Christ so on and so forth. Some of those practical applications will come. But this is applicable in the sense that we have confidence in Christ. It's the greatest application that we can have.

Before it comes to how you're going to live your life this week. Your first application is trusting in Christ for your salvation. And knowing my sins are forgiven. And now in light of knowing my sins are forgiven how then will I live.

But the application first is in knowing that you are in Christ. It is the most pastoral thing that I can do for you. Because there will come a time in your life for every single one of you. Every one of you.

There will come a time in your life where you can't do anything anymore. Your body's given you all you're going to get out of it. And now all you have near to you is death. That's what's next. That's the next event in your life.

And my counsel pastorally to you needs to be the same on your deathbed. As it is when I stand here in this pulpit and give you the first application that you need as a Christian. And that is to know that by faith in Christ your sins are forgiven.

You are reconciled to God. You are promised eternity with Him. And nothing not even death itself can take that away from you. So that you can lay there with confidence knowing I can't get up and do any more practical application here.

What's next for me is to stand in the presence of God. Am I ready to go there? Very early on in my pastorate there was a woman in my church who was dying of brain cancer. And I was called by her daughter and was said, Mom's dying.

We've received a critical diagnosis. And she has less than a matter of months to live. Would you come and see her? So I came over to the house and I sat with her on the couch and I was expecting that when I came in I was going to sit with her and hear her say, Well, I know my date and I'm ready to go home.

But that wasn't what I got. When I sat next to her she was in tears and her first question to me was, Why would God do this to me? And I was totally unprepared for that question. I thought that I was going to sit with her and just bring back to her remembrances of the gospel.

And we would just rejoice in it again. You've always known. You've always known a day like this was going to come. It's just coming sooner than you expected. But it's for you Christ died. So that though we die, yet shall we live.

And I thought we would just talk about those things. And though it would be very sorrowful that we're letting go of this life, saying goodbye to loved ones. She had grandkids she was not going to get to see.

Yet I thought there was going to be something hopeful there and there wasn't. And my purpose in ministering to her in the last days of her life became very, very different than what I had expected. And I felt like every time I saw her, I was preaching the gospel to her all over again.

Like, didn't you know that this was going to happen? And this was the whole reason why you were trusting in Christ. So that I know I've been reconciled with God and I'll live with him forever. Tragically, over the course of that ministry, the brain cancer took her sight and her hearing from her.

And she couldn't hear me anymore. And still, even to the day that she died, was still wondering, why is God doing this to me? It tore me apart. And I prayed for her fervently. That something I had said in there was enough of a reminder to her that she found the gospel and she grabbed a hold of it.

And she held tightly with both of her spiritual hands, dragged all the way into heaven's court on the day that she had to stand before God in glory.

A year after that,.

A very dear friend of mine in my church congregation named Margaret received the same diagnosis. She was dying of brain cancer and she had a matter of months to live. And it was a call that once again came from a member of her family and came to me and said, Margaret's received this diagnosis.

She's dying. Can you go see her? Little Korean woman married her husband in the Korean war, came back to the United States, brought her over with him. He actually ended up leaving the faith, but she had held fast to Christ the rest of her life.

But here I was faced with this same thing again. And I'm wondering once again, is this going to be the same situation that I was in a year ago? Am I going to go sit down with her and she's going to wonder, why is God doing this to me?

And I went over to Margaret's house, bracing myself, praying. God, give me the right words to say to know exactly how to minister to her through these last days that she has on this earth. And I walked into her house and she was standing in her living room with an oxygen tank next to her.

And she said, pastor Hughes, come on in. I'm dying.

Isn't it great?

And we sat down on the couch and she just beamed this woman who's dying of brain cancer. She always had this perfect erect posture and she's sitting right on the edge of her chair with this straight back.

And here I am all slunched over on the couch. This woman is dying of brain cancer. Look at the joy and the energy that she exudes knowing now she's getting to go.

Home.

And in those last months that I was with Margaret, she ministered to me far more, far more than I ever could have ministered to her. One of the, one of the songs that that first day that we sat together and talk, one of the songs she said, I want sung at my funeral is amazing grace.

My chains are gone. And she said, because my chains are gone, I've been set free. My God, my savior has a ransom me. And her last months were a celebration that she was getting to go home. She was a testimony to me that that's what this is all about.

Life may not get better for you.

It may get worse,.

But we have promised for us something so much greater than any prosperity preacher could ever give you, which they can't give you anything.

Anyway,.

They can give you a bunch of words. They can't really fulfill what it is that they tell you that you can receive. We've got the promise of Christ. It's the greatest thing that we could ever receive. Do you believe that not even death will separate you from the love of God?

That is in Christ.

Jesus, our Lord.

And so that first question again, if God is for us, who can be against us or what can be against us? So one 18,.

Six,.

The Lord is on my side. I will not fear. What can man do to me? So this first question is really who can stand against us? If God is for us, what can prevent us? There will be people in your life who will oppose you, who will make fun of you,.

Who will belittle you,.

Who will betray you. They will lie to you. They'll promise you things they don't really fulfill or follow through on. There'll be people that you will think were the most loyal friends that you ever had.

And then suddenly turn around and stab your back over the dumbest thing. There will be people that will try to prevent you from advancing to anything in this life. Maybe you had aspirations for certain things in your career and you can't get there because there's always someone opposing you.

Maybe there's a person's approval that you've always been looking for and have never been able to gain.

Well,.

Good news, my friends, their approval is not necessary for you to get into the kingdom of God. For if God is for us, then who can be against us? In verse 32, we have our second question. If God did not spare his own son for us, what will he withhold from us?

Now that's not quite the way that Paul words it. He says in verse 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. But the understanding here would be that if God didn't spare his own son for.

Us,.

Then what good would he withhold from us? God gave us the greatest thing that he could ever give us. His own son. And if God was willing to give that much for you, won't he so graciously give you more?

You're familiar with Mark 10, where Jesus had confronted the rich young ruler. Rich young ruler comes to him and says,.

Good teacher,.

What must I do to have eternal life?

Jesus says,.

You know the commandments, honor your father and your mother. Don't murder, don't steal, don't bear false witness. The guy says,.

Oh yeah,.

I've done all these commands from my youth on up. I've done all of these things.

And Jesus says,.

But I hold this against you. Go and sell all that you have and give it to the poor. And you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me. And it says that the rich young ruler walked away sad because he had many great possessions.

Jesus looks at his disciples and says, how difficult it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. It would be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

Now there's all different kinds of commentaries regarding that particular remark that the eye of the needle was actually a small door in the city gate. And so, you know, if a merchant with his camels got there a little bit late when the big gates were already closed, well then he has to ask to take all the stuff off the camel and the camel has to go through on his knees.

So it's this symbol of humility, right? Camel having to take all of his stuff off, go through on his knees, just like the rich young ruler needed to take all of his stuff off and bow before the Messiah.

But no,.

Jesus was literally contrasting the largest living animal in Jerusalem with the smallest opening, the eye of a needle. And said it is easier for a camel to get through that little eye of a needle and survive that trip than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

And to understand that's what Jesus was talking about, all you have to do is look at the disciples' reaction. It says they were exceedingly astonished. I mean, if all you got to do is take the stuff off a camel and get him through a door and a gate, that's tedious, but it can be done.

But the disciples are clearly reacting to this like, that's impossible. You can't get a camel through the eye of a needle. And the disciples questioned Jesus in saying that was, then who can be saved?

And what was Jesus' reply? With man, it's impossible. But not with God. For all things are possible with God. Got to understand the perspective of the disciples here. They're looking at this rich young ruler, and it was already the perception of people in Jerusalem at that time that if a person was rich, well, they're blessed by God.

Obviously they have the favor of God upon them because look at all their stuff and their success and their wealth and their prestige. And this guy, even at Jesus' questioning, kept all the commandments.

So he not only has all this stuff, but he's a good person. Why would God not bring him into the kingdom? And so when Jesus says it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for this rich person to enter the kingdom of God, the disciples are going, then who can get there?

If he can't get there, what hope do we have? Yeah, with man, it's impossible. It is impossible for any man to save himself. All things are possible with God. This goes right to the doctrine of predestination that we were just reading about.

God is predestined. He's the one who has made you able to enter into his kingdom, justifying you, sanctifying you. He will glorify you. And if God is the one who does it, then who can stand against it?

Who can oppose it? How did God make it possible for us to get there? He gave his son. You could not have sacrificed yourself to get yourself into the kingdom. The lights went out. It's a message from the kingdom.

You could not do enough to get yourself into the kingdom. You could not have spilled your own blood to atone for your own sins. God gave his son to die for you. He gave the greatest thing that God could have given, himself, for us.

And if he 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? In that interaction that Jesus had with his disciples right after the rich young ruler, Peter had said, look, we've given up everything in order to follow you.

And Jesus said to his disciples, I tell you that there are people even on this side of heaven who have given up mother and father, brothers and sisters, lands, even his own life. He will gain all that and more in this life, Jesus said, and in the life to come, eternal life.

So you actually already have gained mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, lands in this life. Look, who are you sitting among? Your family has grown since you became a Christian. You have already gained on all of this, this side of the kingdom.

And there's even more for us to gain when we get to the other side. In the book of Revelation, there's a multitude there at the throne celebrating Christ. So big, John said, they cannot be numbered. They're all your brothers and sisters in the Lord.

God gave his son. How will he not also give to us all good things? Question number three in verse 33. We have this in verse 33, who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.

So we could word the question this way. If God is the one who justifies, who will bring a charge against his elect? Now, my friends, this is the wonderful doctrine of justification. This is the doctrine that Paul has been laying out from the beginning of the letter, that we are justified by faith and not by our works.

And do you understand how important this doctrine is? That it's not merely something abstract, but actually in Christ Jesus, you aren't guilty before God. That he's not bringing any charge against you.

So if God, who created all, if God whom you sinned against, if there's anyone who deserves to have every pint of your blood, it's God. And if he is not bringing any charge against you, then what does anybody else have on you?

If God has declared you justified, no one can take that away from you and make you guilty. Nor does anyone else have the power to say whether you are innocent or guilty. And there are so many different religions in the world, so many even that claim to be Christianity, that will lay down all these marks and all these things that you have to do and you have to accomplish in order to actually be justified.

In the Roman Catholic Church, it's not by your faith. It's not by faith in Jesus Christ that you're justified. No. Faith is just part of it. You got all these other works that you have to do. Eastern Orthodoxy, same thing.

If you were a Muslim, oh boy, there's all sorts of works you've got to do. There's pilgrimages you've got to make. How many times a day you've got to pray. Did you do it all today? All of these things that you have to do.

And then maybe if you stand before God, you will enter eternity. Same with Judaism. We'll make the same claims. All these different works that you have to do. Ben Shapiro's even said, I keep all of these commands that are written about in the Jewish law.

Hoping that maybe one day when I die, I will be able to get into eternity. I've talked with a Jewish rabbi before who even said to me, there's no guarantee that you will have eternal life. But if there is eternal life, then here's how you get there.

And lays out all these works. So many man-made systems out there will tell you these are the things that you have to do in order to be saved. And there's always some authority figure in there that's telling you whether you've done enough.

But not so with God. He did it all through Christ. Trust Him. You're saved. That's it. And if God is the one who justifies, then who are you to say otherwise? How can you even say of yourself? Like I've not done enough to be justified.

Well, look at Christ. Of course you haven't done enough to be justified. I mean, if it was in any way left to us, you would constantly be questioning it. And even when we understand and know this doctrine of justification by faith alone, yet I still encounter so many Christians who will say that they believe that, but there's still constant questions about, did I get baptized right?

Did I pray right? Have I done everything right since then? Do I read my Bible enough? Do I pray enough? We're constantly going to be looking at our conduct and questioning whether we have accomplished enough.