Transcript

Two young women went to college. They were both bright and their respective parents wanted them to get Master’s Degrees and go on to successful careers. But, instead, they both became believers at college and decided that they were going to become missionaries.

Their parents had a fit. One of the mothers called Dr. Addison Leach, thinking that Dr. Leach was one of the reasons that the girls had become (in the mother’s words) “religious fanatics, rather than pursuing the course they had hoped, getting a career and having security. Instead, they were going to go wildly off into the blue.”

This mother said, “We wanted our daughter to get a master’s degree, start a career, and get something in the bank, so she could have some security.

Dr. Leach responded with this: “Please just let me remind you of something. We’re all on a little ball of rock called earth, and we’re spinning along through space at zillions of miles per hour. Eventually, we’re all going to die.

“Which means that under every single one of us there’s a trap door that’s going to open one day, and we’re all going to fall off this ball of rock.

“So maybe we can get a master’s degree to get some security. But the biggest savings account in the world cannot stop cancer. It can’t stop traffic accidents. It cannot stop broken hearts. It can’t give you anything…any of the things that only God can give you. He’s the only significance you can have. He’s the only love that you can get and can’t lose.”

True security in life comes from God and from our personal relationship with Him. In Romans 8, Paul lays out the comforting truth of our security in Christ.

And because our future is secure, then nothing we do for Christ is in vain. All we do for Him has eternal value.

Romans 8:31-32: “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 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?”

Paul asked, “What shall we then say to these things?” “These things” are a summation of Paul’s teaching to this point in Romans. And this includes: the sinfulness and depravity of mankind (1:19-3:20), justification through faith alone in Christ (3:21-5:21), sanctification by our identification with Christ and through the Holy Spirit (6:1-8:30), and our future glorification and the redemption of our bodies.

Having set forth in chain-link fashion the comprehensive scope of God’s redemptive plan; Paul asked: What shall we say to all this? If God be for us, who can be against us?

In Romans, Paul explained the incredible lengths that God went to in order to save man from His wrath and equip him for victory over sin and death. All this shows, beyond any doubt, that God is for us.

When Paul said, “IF God be for us,” the “if” here is not iffy. Rather, it assumes the condition to be true for the sake of argument. It signifies a fulfilled condition, not just a possibility. It does not imply doubt but certainty. It is a certainty that God is for us.

The “if” here proclaims power and confidence, and it carries a challenge to any and all doubters.

What God has done for us in Christ by His grace shows that He is for us. God is for us, that is, the believer. He is not against us. And this is an unchanging fact. God is for us, and God will always be for us. For eternity, God is for us.

The first part of the question is the premise. The second part of the question is the conclusion. Since God is for us, who can possibly be against us? And the obvious answer is: no one. God is for us, and we are on the Lord’s side. For someone to be against us is to be against God, Who is for us. And thus, no one can be successful against us.

No one is stronger than God.  Omnipotence, all power, is for us, and no lesser power can therefore defeat or destroy us.  As one person put it well, “One person plus God makes an unconquerable majority.”

There are things that are against us in life, as verse 35 of this passage points out: tribulation, persecution, famine, peril, and sword. And we know that the world, the flesh, and the devil are against us.

But with God for us, anything against us will ultimately prove ineffective and unsuccessful, and they could never turn God against us.

None of what is against the believer can ultimately prevail and triumph over us. All our enemies are swept away by God’s power, love, and care for us. And no adversary could possibly thwart the eternal purposes that God has for us.

The evidence and how we know that God is “for us,” is in view of the fact that “He…spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all…”

The Cross is the measure of God’s love for us. As the believer looks to the Cross and sees God’s Son crucified for us, we see God’s infinite love and that God is for us.

God opened His heart to us and He did not hold His Son back; He spared not His own Son. He willingly gave and sacrificed His Son for us. God did not offer for us that which cost Him nothing; He gave that which cost Him everything.

God did not hesitate to give us the greatest gift of all: His own Son. God spared nothing in providing salvation for us.

And God “delivered Him up for us all.”  This reminds us of earlier in Romans when Paul wrote that Christ “was delivered for our offences” (4:25).

In His grace, the Father delivered Christ up to the Cross, delivered Him there to bear all our sins and offences, and He was delivered to die for us that we might be saved.

Paul is challenging us to look to the Cross and reason with him: If God did that for us, sending and delivering up His own Son to die in our place, “how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”

The greatest gift being given and the greatest sacrifice of all has been made.  In view of this supreme act of God’s grace, how will God not also, with Him, graciously give us all things?  God freely gave His Son, and He will “freely give us all things.”

These “all things” are the spiritual provisions promised to every believer that stem from our salvation in Christ. All things, or all the gifts, benefits, and blessings of salvation that are promised to us in Christ, are ours, and they are freely given by God’s grace.

All things we need regarding our salvation and walk MUST follow and be given through God’s Son. In and with Him, all things come to us. God cannot BUT do this for us.

Through His Son, God freely gives to believers all things we need pertaining to our present sanctification in order to conform us to the image of His Son. And God freely gives all things to believers pertaining to our future glorification and eternal life in heaven.

Paul said, “How shall He not with Him” freely give us these things. In other words, God WILL follow through and work in our lives and give us all the things promised to us.

How could He not? Paul asked. Since God gave everything and spared not His own Son, He can be fully counted on to give and provide all things we need for our spiritual walk and welfare. And God will surely bring our salvation to its completed end in glory. All that God has promised us in Christ will come to pass.

Romans 8:33-34: “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. 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.”

A man went to court having been accused of stealing a can of peaches. The judge asked him how he pleaded. The man said, “Guilty, your Honor.”

The judge then asked, “How many peaches were in the can?” The man replied, “Six.” The judge said, “Ok, you will spend 6 days in jail then.”

The man’s wife then quickly stood up in the back of the courtroom and asked the judge if she could speak on her husband’s behalf. The judge said, “Sure.” The man’s wife said, “He stole a can of peas, too!”

Next, the apostle raised a legal question. The word “charge” is a legal term meaning to lodge a formal accusation in court or to bring charges against. It is a judicial term used for asserting that one was guilty of a crime and liable to prosecution and punishment.

Paul is asking, “Who will lodge an accusation or bring charges against God’s elect?”

The term, “elect,” is a term for believers who are in Christ and who belong to God. When we believe the gospel of grace, we are joined and united to the One Whom God calls “Mine Elect,” or His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ, we are the elect. And being called the elect is a term of security and comfort in our eternal relationship with God.

The question is “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect?” And the answer is: No one. No one can bring charges against the believer.

The reason why no charges can be brought is: “It is God that justifieth.” The One we sinned against, whose law we violated, whose judgment we deserved, He has justified us.

When we believe the gospel of grace that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again, our sins are removed, forgiven, and taken away forever, and Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us, and we are “made the righteousness of God” in Christ.

On this basis, God justifies us, or He pronounces the believer righteous.  And this decision is a legally binding verdict.  The eternal verdict He, the Supreme Judge, has pronounced, no power in the universe can reverse or invalidate.  God has justified us, and God is for us.  God will never reverse it, and His decision stands eternally.

Forever, we are righteous and in a right standing before God.

Being justified by God, we are secure from any and every charge against us. No charge can successfully be brought against the believer, because the Supreme Judge has declared us righteous.

All accusations are dismissed, and no one can bring any charge that will ever stick or stand, because we stand justified by God. Our sin debt has been paid in full, and we are righteous before God forever.

And thus, Paul could ask defiantly, “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect?” No one can, because “It is God that justifieth.”

Then another challenge rings out by the apostle, “Who is he that condemneth?”

Paul is asking, “Who will declare us guilty and pass a sentence of eternal condemnation and punishment?

Jesus Christ is God’s appointed Judge. The function of passing the sentence of condemnation is Christ’s right and under His authority.

No human being has the right to eternally condemn us because all are sinners and under sin’s condemnation too. They have the same problem we do, and we’re all in the same boat. There is only One who has the right to condemn us, and that is Jesus Christ.

But Paul shows the believer here that Christ will never condemn us.  Paul is asking, Who is going to condemn you?  Christ, Who died and rose again for you? 

In other words, Jesus Christ is not ever going to condemn us. He died and rose again to pay the penalty for all our sins and to save us from condemnation. Christ has condemned sin in the flesh for us by His death (8:3).

And the fact that Christ rose again shows that He paid for all our sins and shows the Father’s approval of Christ’s finished work. The resurrection is the evidence that God fully accepted the death of Christ as all-sufficient for our salvation.

All our sins are paid for and are forgiven. And thus, the sins that would condemn us to eternal death in the lake of fire have been removed forever.

By Christ’s death and resurrection, the believer is no longer under the condemnation of God, and we are secure and delivered from eternal condemnation.

Having died for all our sins and risen again, demonstrating the depth of the Father’s approval and how pleased He was with Christ’s finished work, the Savior has been honored and exalted.  As Paul said, “Who is even at the right hand of God.”

Christ is at the place of all power and authority, in a position of honor and privilege. He is clothed with power; He is exalted to honor; He is far above all.

And in His solemn exaltation and from this glorious and highest possible position at God’s right hand, by grace, Christ makes “intercession for us.” The believer is under the protection of Christ. Far from ever condemning us, Christ defends us against any accusation. Our Savior personally pleads our cause before the Father.

The accuser of the brethren, the devil, has something evil to accuse every believer in Christ. None of us is 100% holy in our everyday living. We all stumble, fail, and sin.

However, we have a faithful Intercessor, “Who is even at the right hand of God, Who also maketh intercession for us” (Rom. 8:34).

And any accusation is swept away by Christ, Who intercedes on our behalf on the basis of His finished work, and He replies to any accusation, “I died for that sin, and because he has trusted Me, he is forgiven and righteous.”

Christ’s continuing ministry of intercession for each one saved through His sacrifice will continue without any interruption until every redeemed soul is safe in heaven.

No one and nothing can challenge the believer’s salvation. Nothing can condemn the believer. All accusers can do is accuse, but they cannot condemn. Christ, Who has the authority to condemn, will NEVER condemn us, and no one else can.

Christ died and rose again for us, and in His exaltation, He makes intercession for us, and this assures us that we are safe.

And thus Paul could ask defiantly, “Who is he that condemneth?” The answer is no one.

Our salvation is secure in Christ, we will never be condemned to hell, and we can live for the Lord in the comfort and confidence of our eternal security.

And all of this demonstrates the truth that “If God be for us, who can be against us.” Because God is for us, no one can successfully oppose us, charge us, or condemn us.

Romans 8:35-39: “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 thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

“Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that 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 creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Paul asked, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” The love of Christ concerns Christ’s love for us, not our love for Him. And Paul is asking if anyone or anything can sever or pull us apart from Christ’s love for us.

Paul then listed seven possibilities and instances in which one might feel separated from Christ and His love.  Because when we suffer tribulation, distress, poverty, and persecution, we begin to wonder if the Lord still cares, and if He still loves us.

It’s during these difficult times that we must rely on the comfort and truth of God’s Word by faith, and not on our feelings.

Paul asked if we could be separated from Christ’s love by “tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?”

“Tribulation” refers to pressure; it is troubles and afflictions pressing upon someone from without. “Distress” literally means narrowness of place, and it refers to the anxiety and distress of mind that arises from within when one is helplessly hemmed in by difficult circumstances and does not know where to turn or how to escape them to find relief.

“Persecution” means to put to flight or to pursue and refers to the opposition one faces and any kind of suffering inflicted on us for the sake of our belief in God’s Word and because of our relationship with the Lord.

“Famine, or nakedness” refers to want of food and want of clothing. It’s to have inadequate provision of food, not to be adequately clothed, and to be impoverished. It is to be without the basic necessities of life.

“Peril” is to be exposed to danger in general. And “sword” refers to a small sword or dagger, which was concealed and used by assassins and for murder.

Speaking of the faithful saints and prophets of old, Hebrews 11:37 states, “They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword…”

Speaking of “peril, or sword,” in verse 36, Paul quoted Psalm 44:22, “As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

This verse and prophecy describe the hunting down of the godly remnant by the Antichrist in the days of the future Tribulation. But even today, under grace, as Paul points out, this verse is a reality that the Church faces.

The risks and dangers of living for Christ in this world are very real. The world, under the sway of the devil, hates Christ and hates those who follow Him (Jn. 15:18-19).

Paul reminded the Roman believers, and the Body of Christ as a whole, that suffering and persecution for the sake of Christ is the lot and portion of God’s faithful followers.

“For Thy sake,” or the sake of Christ and in His cause, Paul wrote, “we are killed all the day long.” We are subject to and exposed to death, and there is no break or intermission to the danger. It is all the time, continually, “all the day long.”

“We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Those who oppose Christ and His people judge and regard the Church as appropriate objects of slaughter, that we ought to die.

We are regarded in this way, “for Thy sake,” not because we are guilty of any real offence, but for obeying and following Christ. Because of our devotion to Christ, we are regarded and treated by the world as sheep who should be led to the slaughter.

Verse 37 is the answer to the question of verse 35, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” Paul then wrote in verse 37, “Nay,” or no, in no way do these things separate us from the love of Christ.

In this world of sin, unbelief, spiritual darkness, and wickedness, the believer faces afflictions, difficulties, and dangers of all kinds. But whatever life throws at us, it is impossible for any possible circumstance to separate us from the love of Christ.

The Father permitted His Son to suffer, and He never stopped loving Him. Likewise, in the troubles of our lives, it is impossible for them to pull us away from Christ’s love for us. He never stops loving us. He loves us at all times, including in and thru our hard times.

Christ’s love for us is eternal and unbreakable. It is impossible to be separated from it. And there is no greater joy than, “Jesus loves me, this I know. For the Bible tells me so.”

Paul said that “in all these things,” or in all our tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or sword, “we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.”

The supposed weak “sheep for the slaughter,” Paul said, are actually “more than conquerors” through Christ.

Not only are we not separated from the love of Christ in our trials and sufferings, we are more than conquerors through Christ Who loves us. These things draw us closer to the Lord. And as we depend on Him by faith, He gives us the power, and His strength is worked through us, which makes us not only conquerors, but more than conquerors.

This means that we overwhelmingly conquer and gain a surpassing victory.

Through Christ, there is no hairbreadth victory; the balance is not just barely tipped to our side, and the conquering is not just barely won and snatched out of the jaws of defeat; we overwhelmingly conquer through Christ. The victory is His.

Through Christ, we can emerge from any difficulty on top of the situation and not be destroyed by them. We can come out of our tribulations and distresses stronger than before and victorious through the Lord, bringing glory to Him.

As it’s been said, “Only the power of Christ can bring sweetness out of bitterness, strength out of weakness, triumph out of tragedy, and blessing out of heartbreak.”

We also overwhelmingly conquer through Christ because the ultimate reward we will gain in the future will far surpass any loss we may have suffered in this life.

As 2 Corinthians 4:17 tells us, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”

Finally, Paul brings all this to a comforting and settled conclusion.

Paul wrote that he was “persuaded” or convinced. He had a settled confidence and an unwavering certainty “that neither death, nor life,” will separate us from God’s love.

In death and in life, the believer is loved by God. Nothing here and nothing hereafter can separate us from God’s love. He loves us on both sides of the grave. Death brings us into His presence, and nothing we do, say, or experience in life will separate us from God’s love.

“Nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers” means that neither holy nor hostile angelic beings in their different ranks and orders, absolutely nothing in the supernatural realm will or could separate us from the unbreakable bond of God’s love.

“Nor things present, nor things to come,” means that nothing that the present or the future may hold can possibly drive a wedge between God’s love and us. Whatever happens today, whatever happens tomorrow, God loves us.

“Nor height, nor depth,” means that no distance, or no place we could go, would or could put any sliver of separation between us and God’s love.

Paul then adds an all-inclusive statement. “Nor any other creature,” or no created thing can separate the believer from the love of God.

God, the uncreated One, is for us, and if no created thing can separate us from His love, that covers everything, and all this means our security in Him is absolute and complete.

Nothing “shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” And that is true comfort from above!