WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS (ROM. 8:31-39), part 1/4

If you have ever wondered whether your salvation can slip through your fingers, Romans 8 refuses to let you live on spiritual guesswork. We open with Paul’s “golden chain” in Romans 8:29-30 and follow the logic all the way through: those God foreknows, He predestines, calls, justifies, and glorifies. That sequence is meant to land like a verdict, not a motivational poster, and it forces a question most believers avoid: if God started this work, who exactly is strong enough to stop Him?

From there we sit inside the weight of Romans 8:31, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” We do not deny opposition, internal or external. We talk about why Christians often stare at enemies, circumstances, and accusations until they feel bigger than God’s promises, and how that habit fuels anxiety. We also touch the uncomfortable pride behind self-reliance, including the way “free will” can quietly become the place we put our trust instead of Christ’s finished work and ongoing intercession.

Then Romans 8:32 brings the clearest assurance: God did not spare His own Son. If the Father has already given the greatest gift, we can trust Him to freely give everything needed to bring His people home, even through suffering. The cross is not just the beginning of the Christian life; it is the guarantee that God will finish what He purchased.

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Transcript

Romans Eight Nears The Turning Point

SPEAKER_02 0:01

Christians, we are going to conclude, Lord willing, chapter eight of the book of Romans and our exposition verse by verse through this book. And upon conclusion of this chapter, we will be halfway through the book, and we will be embarking upon probably one of the more controversial parts of Scripture in all of the Word of God, dealing with Romans chapter 9 through 11. And there's much confusion regarding these chapters, and we will get through we will get through the various reasons why when we get there. But where we are tonight, we're going to deal with additional layers of assurance that we ought to have as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul points these things out to us in very in a very astute form.

The Golden Chain Of Salvation

SPEAKER_02 1:21

And so prior to verse 31, which is where we will begin, I'd like to read Romans 8, verse 29 and 30. And it says in verse 29 of Romans 8, for whom he, meaning the Lord, 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. And in verse thirty, Paul continues and says that moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called, them he justified, and whom he justified, them he glorified. And this is an astounding passage of scripture going over and breaking down truly the salvation process. We start out by being foreknown or for loved by from before the foundation of the world. And as a result of that foreknowledge of us, he did predestinate these same folks whom he did foreknow to be conformed to the image of his son, removing any ambiguity whatsoever that those who have been for loved by God and predestined by God to salvation, that they would be conformed to the image of his son. He gives assurance that they will in fact be conformed to the image of his son, which means that there is no possible way that these people could ever fall from grace having been conformed to the image of his son, unless you want to believe that being conform to the image of Christ could result at the same time in being rejected by him after the fact, after coming to faith in him. And so he goes on to say that those whom he predestined, he called, and those who he called, he justified, and those he justified, he glorified. And so you see this link, this chain that links all these elements together. And as I tried to convey last evening, that from the beginning, which is to be foreknown, to the end, which is being glorified, all these things and all these in between, they all must take place. There is no possible way that any one of these things can be true and not all of them be true. There's no possible way. All of these things are effectual in the Christian believer. All of these things belong to him. Not one lacking. And all of these things belong to us, not one lacking. And so as we get to Romans 8, 31 through 39, we see now Paul giving us the assurances. He gives us an assurance in light of what we have just spoken about in Romans 8, 29, and 30. We have this assurance. And what he tells us in the next few verses remaining in this chapter is that we have this assurance. And what is that assurance? That is nothing will separate us from the love of Christ. Nothing will separate us from the love of God. We cannot be separated from his love no matter what. This is what Paul is proving. This is what he is teaching. And I'm going to get,

Nothing Separates Us From Christ

SPEAKER_02 5:32

I'm going to speak more about this because there's more to it than that which meets the eye when it talks about not being separated from the love of God, not being separated from the love of Christ. So let's read verse 31 of Romans 8. Paul begins to show and to prove to us that there's no way that we can be separated from the love of God. So in concluding, concluding what he was already saying, he says, So what shall we say then? What shall we say then to these things? What is the conclusion of the matter? This is what he is presenting. What shall we say to these things? And then he says this. To me, this seems like this is an open and shut case. It should be a closed case in the mind of every believer. If God be for us, for us, who can be against us? Of course, we know that this is a rhetorical question requiring an emphatic response that should be known to all those who hear the question. Who shall separate us from God? If he is for us, who can be against us? Who can be our opponents? Who can be opposed to us? And his answer deserves the emphatic negative response. No one, nothing can come against us. And so Paul here makes the argument, reaching this climactic point, which is that all that has been said about God's saving purposes, he is showing us at this point that there is no enemy, no opposition of any type, which can take away or which can oppose us in such a way that we can be separated from God. And so the question invites reflection on the implication of these particular fruits. If God is for us, and what we Paul has been telling us and proving to us and demonstrating to us is that he is for us. We are his people, we are the people of his pasture, we belong to him, we are his possession. And so if God is for us, it speaks about his purpose for us being accomplished and being that his salvation he has for us has been applied. And when the salvation of God and his purposes have been applied to his people, there is no opposing force which can ultimately prevail against his people and Christians. As difficult as it may be to be assured of our salvation, as difficult as that may be, Paul is telling you, he's giving us and furnishing us with every reason to understand that when we come to faith in Jesus Christ, we are forever in his care. Our salvation cannot be more solid and more secure than the day that we first come to faith. And there is no scenario where other the otherwise can be true. A Christian cannot be separated in their salvation from God. If they have ever had it, they will never not be without it. If they should end up being without it, it is because they never had it. There is no way. Somebody says, Cooper Boom says, surrender to him daily. Yes, we do. But how is it that we surrender to Christ daily? Our surrendering to Christ daily is the fact that he is working in us daily. That's why the Spirit of God and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, this is why they intercede on our behalf. The Godhead makes intercession for us. Christ is our mediator, our advocate, our intercessor. What does this mean? This means that our case before God, before the divine tribunal, it is always a situation where we are declared innocent. We are declared righteous in him. Christ reminds his Father that he shed his blood for us and that he gave us a robe of righteousness. We have been given a robe of righteousness, a robe which can never be taken away, a robe that we ourselves can never disrobe ourselves of. That is an impossibility. And so Paul is inviting our reflection on these matters so that we might understand the implications of these truths. And so here's the question Who can be against us? Who can be against us?

SPEAKER_07 11:36

Nobody.

SPEAKER_02 11:54

And to the Christian, we know that God is for us. He is for us. And what he also acknowledges, what he

God For Us Defeats Every Opponent

SPEAKER_02 12:09

also does not deny is the existence of opposition. He is careful to make us understand that there is an active opposition out there. But what he is pointing out, what he is asserting here, is that regardless of the degree or the new or the or the quality or the amount or the quantity of those that oppose us, Paul makes us understand that this opposition, no matter how great or grand it may be, its ability to exceed over us, to succeed over us in their opposition, he says, is a flat out impossibility. Cannot be done. So the old the idea, the notion that a Christian can be a truly genuine, blood-bought Christian that can ever be outside of the love of God and fall prey to opposition so as to lose that which God has given them. Paul says, this is impossible. It's an impossibility. The decisive factor is not about opposition. And so many believers are always focused on the opposition rather than the promises and the guarantees that have been made by God. The enemy has done this. The enemy is after me. Paul is saying is that this enemy has no power over you. This enemy has no capacity to prevail over you. None at all. So the issue here is not the presence of enemies. It is not the presence of opposition. But what is the decisive factor is God's sovereign favor of us, which began before the world was founded. In eternity past. Our victory in Christ was already secured. And I know that there are a lot of men and women out there who want to believe that their salvation is a result of the exertions of their own freedom of will, which they can only, should only understand to be a figment of their imaginations. The free will of man is an illusion. It's a lie. It's an idol that men worship. And like every idol that stands between a person and God, it will be torn down and made to be seen for what it exactly is: worthless, useless, and having no power to save. Also, the only power that it does have is to destroy. And that destruction will come by way of the Lord God Himself, destroying all of those who put who give their worship to idols. And the chief of all these idols is the will of man. Men worship self. Men worship self. So

Group Reflections On Daily Dependence

SPEAKER_02 16:27

before I go on to the verse 32, I want to give everyone an opportunity to speak, keep them short and concise. No sermons, please, but just good, comprehensive ans, but short answers.

Free Will As A False Savior

SPEAKER_02 16:42

Let me start with you, Sister Joni. What are your thoughts so far?

SPEAKER_07 16:47

Well, I have learned that God and I are a majority, and that nothing can come between us. And I just like to highlight Psalm 91. I love it, and I like the fact that it says that if we cleave to him, he'll be a refuge. But it goes on to say that we'll see our enemies fall. How cool is that?

SPEAKER_03 17:12

Right. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_07 17:14

Yeah, so that's all I get.

SPEAKER_03 17:16

Good. Brother Stud, Stud. What are your thoughts?

SPEAKER_01 17:22

Um, I came in here pretty kind of late, brother. But I I heard, you know, a little bit of your sermon that you were preaching about. Yeah, um, you know, it's it's one thing, you know, when reading the gospel that Jesus Christ said that is still kind of mind-boggling to me. Jesus said, He told the disciples, without me, you can do nothing. Without me, you can do nothing. And I had to, it was years, I had to wrap my mind around that verse. Like, what do you mean without me, you can do nothing? You know, so um going back to you know, a little uh a little bit of what I heard you say, we have to come to uh understanding that, you know, he is, you know, like he said in John 14, 6, I am the way and I'm the truth and I'm the life. You know, every single day I wake up in the morning, as a man, you know, that pride and ego, I have everything figured out, I have this whole world figured out. Nobody can tell me nothing. So I fail every single day because I go out into this world and I try to figure out this world by myself, and I I had to find out the hard way that without him I can do nothing, you know. David had to find out the hard way, Moses had to find out the hard way, right? I guess you know, Abraham had to find out the hard way, even Samson, all these great men in the Bible, they all had to find out the hard way. So I don't know if that makes sense, bro. Help me out, yeah. So they all had to find out the hard way, just like I'm I'm finding out the hallway every single day. Because, like you say, he comes from eternity, he doesn't come from a time zone. Our story has been built in front of him from beginning to end. That's why Jesus told John in the book of Revelation uh the Alpha and Omega.

SPEAKER_03 20:05

Right.

SPEAKER_01 20:05

And it took me a long time to figure out what he was saying.

SPEAKER_03 20:09

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 20:11

Absolutely. No, I I totally understand what you're saying, and and I totally get it, man. You you are a hundred percent right, and I can tell you this much I learned the hard way. And you know, we still we still keep learning this whole thing because we we often get beset by our own personal trials, and it causes us to rethink the veracity of what God has said and made clear, which is that He will keep us. But I'm gonna keep on we're gonna keep on dealing with this subject tonight, brother. So I hope you stick around and can and can add some more flavor to it, like you have done just now.

SPEAKER_01 20:41

Yes, sir. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 20:43

Good, good. Terry, your thoughts.

SPEAKER_05 20:47

I just love what he just said. It's true. It's uh it's it's like a hard knock life.

unknown 20:56

Yep.

SPEAKER_05 20:58

Yes, yes, yes, and he's good. And it can be very painful, these lessons, very painful. But necessary.

SPEAKER_03 21:09

But necessary, for sure. Sure. Sister Angie, your thoughts.

SPEAKER_06 21:15

Hello. Well, my thoughts are it does tie into what was said earlier about, you know, we find out the hard way, but I found out I always learn the hard way, but I actually rejoice in it because I've been trained by it. So it does build something, and you learn something through every time. And and I've always had this saying, you know, about you know, nothing can stand against us. And if you listen to uh verse 30 35's list of all those things, you know, or is it 30 yeah, 35. You know, it talks about all the things that really can't go against you because you're a god. So these things that God didn't say a weapon wasn't going to be farm, he said it wouldn't prosper. So when you're standing in that, it does not work. So I always have to say, yeah, nice try though, because it was it always stand to me like, you think I don't see that? Yeah, I know. I've been there already. I've learned from it. I've been trained by it. And now it doesn't work. So the things that you find the hard way, you gonna learn lessons to finding out that it doesn't work. So I am so real on that part. We're learning the hard way. It's it's it's absolutely true.

SPEAKER_03 22:25

It's true. Absolutely. Mariah, what are your thoughts?

SPEAKER_00 22:31

I just love what he has said to give us a final constellation of what was said, no, baby, what was said prior, that God has all the has done all of these things for us. So if he has done all of this for us, what what possibly by the creator himself, what can be against us? Who can prosper against God? Who is sovereign? Like I think it's just talking about the sovereignty of God and how you know what he has done cannot be undone. And again, we should have this assurance in us. And so I think it's just a final uh reassurance calls to what has been stated, and I really do truly appreciate it because you know you somebody will say something concerned against us, sin still apparently has hold on some, which they don't understand. The dominion has been loose or broken. So I just love how he goes to talking about God's love and how he's chosen us to his sovereignty and and his assurity.

SPEAKER_03 23:40

Right. Absolutely. Sean, your thoughts.

SPEAKER_04 23:44

Uh yeah, just I agree with Mariah, just looking back at this verse and him just summing up everything that he said so far when he said, What should we say then to these things? Just going back to verse one, and just the idea that if God has saved you and will then eventually glorify you, then no opposing power can overturn his uh purpose. It's not that he's not talking about opposition because we know that we will have opposition, but it's the idea that there is nothing that can defeat God's purpose for those who belong to him.

SPEAKER_03 24:18

Right. That's right, sister.

SPEAKER_02 24:20

That's right.

God Gave His Son So We Are Secure

SPEAKER_02 24:21

So here we get to Romans 8, verse 32. Now keep in mind, if God be for us, who can be against us? Look at verse 32 now. This listen listen what he says. He, meaning God, that did not spare his own son. He didn't spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not with him also freely give us all things? So listen, listen to what he says closely here. He says, If God did not spare his own son, if he did not sp if if he spared not his own son, but even went to the to the to the extent of delivering him, delivering his son up for us all, how shall he not with him, meaning his son, also freely give us all things? Here's what he's saying. He's saying that he's saying that because God gave up his son, he said this was not without this was not having considered what his purpose is in our salvation. He says he sent his son in order to render effectual what it is that gives us the assurance of salvation. He says this that if God gave up his son, you can be certain that he also gave to us through him freely all things. All things. And when he says that God delivered up Christ for us all, he's talking about believers. Because when he says that he gave us all things, he talks about all things that pertain to our salvation. So he cannot be talking about all people universally, because going to hell cannot possibly be that the thought of as having been given to one who given Christ to that person and then given them all things. That can't be including all of those who are in hell. It is speaking about God's people who are foreknown and predestined by God from before the foundation of the world, who were called, who were justified, and who are glorified. That's who these all are. And he says that he spared not his own son. Why? To make sure that the promises about our salvation are guaranteed, and so that we can have that assurance without any doubt whatsoever that what he has done is going to bring about our everlasting salvation. Christians, this is what this is exactly what the kingdom of darkness does not want you to understand or believe. All things. That means that by the salvation that we have received by the death of Christ, we also shall receive all things that he gives to us, that he gives to us freely. Meaning that he gave to us under no compulsion or under no obligation, but simply because he loves his people whom he did for know. That's what this is what he is saying. And so, and so God's continued provision for us is grounded in what he has already done. Our salvation is something that God has already established, accomplished, and done. The inevitable reality is that we shall be glorified and we shall receive the total inheritance that makes us joint heirs with Christ. When this lays hold of your soul, believe me, you will understand the invincible nature of your position in Christ as being one that can never be overturned because there is no opposition or no opposition to us that can prevail. Whether it is outside of you or whether it is inside of you, you as a true believer can never even muster up a way to leave Christ. As sheep, the dumb animals that we are, we can always be captured by our shepherds, and he will never let us go astray without being able, in doing so, to bring us back to the fold. No true believer shall or can ever be lost. That is an abject falsehood.

Suffering And Trusting The Word

SPEAKER_05 30:27

Terry I didn't understand for so many decades the the the suffering aspect of it. I believed this word.