We are Conquerors

8/23/2026 - David Summy: We are Conquerors

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

You know, our peace doesn't depend on circumstances around us, does it? Or does it? It's a good question to ask ourselves this morning. And I love that last verse there. One day my faith will, how does it say, receive sight? Become sight. As the clouds roll back and the trumpet sounds. That will be an awesome moment when all will become reality. Is it well with your soul? Thank you, John, for sharing with us last week about the mercy of God. I just really enjoyed that. God's mercy and his love is everlasting. It reaches us even before we love him, doesn't it? Our last sermon in Romans, and we're going to be turning to Romans chapter 8, if you'd like to turn there today. We're going to be continuing there. But our last sermon in that in the chapter 8 of Romans was focused on verses 17 through 30. Verse 17 tells us that if we want to walk with Christ in his glory as heirs and co-heirs with him, we also need to share in his suffering. Suffering is not something that we naturally rejoice in or look forward to facing in our lives. Matter of fact, we oftentimes go way out of our way to avoid suffering. Suffering is part of our spiritual growth. We see this in Romans 5, 3 and 4. It tells us not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance. Perseverance, character, and character, hope. Each one of us. It is God refining us and making us more and more like Him. Suffering is part of that journey. But we see in verses 18 to 25 that there is no suffering that even comes close to the glory that will be revealed to us. And sometimes my heart groans for that, to experience what Jesus is preparing for us. And we can only imagine what that will be like. I'm sure that you can also relate to this, especially when you go through hard and painful times in your life. This morning we're going to be looking at verses 31 to 39 of chapter 8. And I simply titled this More Than Conquerors. More than Conquerors. Let's pray before we begin this passage. Lord, I just pray that you would open your word to our hearts that we could understand this morning, that we could see your truth. Open our ears that we can hear. Open our hearts that we could understand. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's go ahead and read verses 31 to 39 of chapter 8 in Romans this morning. What then what then shall we say in this response in response 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, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Jesus Christ who died more than that, who was raised to life, is at the right hand of God and also interceding for us. Verse thirty five. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written, for your sake we face death all day long. We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. In this passage here we see around eight questions that Paul asks us in these verses. The first question we see here is, what then shall we say in response to these things? What are these things that he's talking about or referring to in this question? I think the answer is found in what we were just reviewing. Walking in suffering, the groaning of our spirit as we await the glory that is coming, the way the Spirit is our helper in weakness, and the fact that God can use all things to work out the good in our lives. These are these things that he's talking about or referring to in this verse here. Paul tells us what our response should be with a second question. He asks, If God is for us, who can be against us? This here question, I think, is a loaded question, isn't it? There's a lot in this question that in a lot of different directions we could go with this. If God is for us, who can be against us? Now what Paul is not saying here is that we do not face opposition from an enemy that wants to destroy us. We face an enemy that wants to do more than trip you up a time or two. We face someone who wants to destroy us. Peter makes it clear that the enemy we face is like a lion seeking whom he may devour. You think about a lion prowling. It's not a pretty picture what that lion can do. This is not a scare tactic, but a reminder to each one of us that we need to be armed with the whole armor of God in our lives. Doing so gives us the tools that we need to withstand or fend off the attacks of the devil. In John 10, verse 10, Jesus tells us the thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. But I have come that you may have life, and that you may have it to the fool. Isn't that a wonderful promise this morning? Do not kid yourself. Your enemy and his demons wants nothing more than to steal what is rightfully yours. And he tries his best to do that. To kill your peace, kill your joy and your faith, and to destroy the life and purpose that God has for you. The question, if God is for us, who can be against us also implies the overarching supremacy of God. There is nothing more powerful, there is nothing mightier than our God. Amen. If he is for us, there is nothing that can rob you or destroy the purpose that he has for your life. He is the most powerful, he is the almighty God. Isaiah 54, verse 16 and 17 tells us, see, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work. And it is I who have created the destroyer to wreck havoc. No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me, declares the Lord. No one or nothing will come against the Lord and prosper. Our God is supreme, and he is the Almighty. The question if God is for us, who can be against us is not so much about me or you. God is the all-powerful, the all-knowing, and the ever-present one in our lives today and forever. If God's power is in you, then who can stand against that? In the Bible, oftentimes it uses the phrase, the arm of the Lord. And this is a biblical metaphor representing God's power and his strength. In Isaiah 53, 1, it asks the question, to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? And then it goes on to describe Jesus like a tender shoot, like a root out of dry ground. And in verse 32, here in our text, we see that God did not spare his own son. God did not spare his own son. If God gave us the most precious gift of his son, how will he withhold anything else from his children? We have already been given the greatest gift possible in the form of God's Son. Why would he keep anything lesser from us? Verses 33 to 34 addresses this from even a different angle. Verse 33 says, Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? If God is just, it is God who justifies. Verse 34, who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus, who died more than that, who was raised to life, is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who will bring a charge against the ones God has chosen? Who is the one that condemns? We all know who the one is that loves to throw our past and even our present in our face in condemnation and judgment. In these verses, we see that the claims thrown against the child of God from the enemy will not stick. It has the effect similar to that of water off of a duck's back. And we all know what happens there. It has no effect. With our sins placed under the blood of Christ, there is no charge that will stick. Oh, the accusations may come. The charges may be thrown in our face, but we have an advocate we see in these verses here. His name is Jesus. Where does it say he is in these verses? He's seated at the right hand of the Father. When those charges are thrown at us, Jesus steps up to the Father and says, I carried that sin to the cross. I hung there in shame so they would not need to. I shed my blood to pay for the penalty of that sin. I carried the guilt and condemnation so they could be free. And in that moment, the charges, the condemnation, the accusations that are thrown are invalid. They do not stick because within Christ we are justified. That is an amazing thing to think about. Not only does the Spirit pray on our behalf in our weakness, as we've seen earlier in this chapter, but here we see Jesus interceding for us to the Father on our behalf. If that doesn't give you hope in your life, I don't know what will. To me, that is amazing. Jesus interceding on my behalf. Let me just say this yet about the subject of charges being brought up against us, and this is coming from the enemy, the enemy throwing stuff in our face. If we live in condemnation and shame, I believe oftentimes we have given ourselves to the lies of the enemy and not fully trusted in the work of Christ, the finished work of Jesus. By living in shame and condemnation, which is exactly where the devil wants you to live or to dwell or to be, by living there, you are saying that the sacrifice of Jesus was not enough. Doesn't that put in a different light if you think about it in that way? If you are one that struggles with living in constant guilt, condemnation, and shame, I would encourage you to come before God and repent. The reason I say that is repentance is simply saying to God, you're right and I'm wrong. I believe you. Today I choose to believe you. Today I choose to believe that the finished work of Jesus is enough for me. And when you do that, things will change. You truly believe that. In verse 35, it says, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? In reading this verse, the temptation is there to look at this love of God as a superficial love. You know, we may tell someone else that we love them, and we'll all always love them. We'll tell our friend, bro, I've got your back. I will always be there for you. But somehow I would like for you to understand that God's love for you runs so much deeper than that. It's so much more profound than that superficial love that we often think about. And in this verse, I think I really feel Paul is trying to tell us that there is absolutely no hardship, no persecution, no trouble, no danger, no circumstance that can derail or hijack the purpose of God in your life. Think about that for a moment. There is nothing that you face or can face that will derail or hijack the purpose that God has for you. Isn't that amazing? No matter what comes at you, nothing can separate you from the love of Christ. Paul experienced this firsthand, and he knew what he was talking about. He knew what it was like to face persecution. He knew what it was like to face famine, trouble, and hardship. But even in the middle of a shipwreck, God was working his purpose through Paul's obedience. There's a saying that life must be lived forwards, but you can only be but can only be understood backwards. Life must be lived forwards, but can only be understood backwards. There's a little bit of truth to that. You know, looking back, we see God's purpose in a lot of a lot of times, don't we? Walking forward, not so much. You know, when we get caught up in the emotions and feelings that we face, that we face in our present time, our present troubles. Because it looks impossible. In the middle of the impossible, we still need to choose to believe God. We still need to choose to trust God. We need to believe He has a plan for us. We are not promised an easy life. In fact, we are promised persecution. We are assigned to suffer. But we should not despair, we should not shrink away from walking through tough times. Why? Let's look at the last two verses of this chapter and what Paul tells us here. Knowing all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor demons, nor the present, nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Can we say this morning with Paul, I am convinced. Are you convinced this morning that nothing can separate you from the love of Christ in your life? Would to God we would be there and understand that. No doubt in our mind. No matter what comes our way, no matter what we face, nothing can separate me from the love of God. Nothing can detour, hijack, or derail God's purpose being fulfilled in my life. God has a plan for me. There are so many examples of this in the Bible that we could look at. Just to name a few, we think of Joseph. Joseph's brother sold him into slavery, and he was falsely accused and imprisoned. I mean, how much worse can it get? Sold by your own family. Falsely accused, imprisoned. Yet God used these events to prepare him for a role in saving many lives during a famine. In Genesis 50, verse 20, it says, You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good. I believe these were the words of Joseph to his brothers when they came to see him. You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good. How about Moses, who had to overcome fear and doubts in his life? Wasn't it Moses that said, I can't speak? He felt very inadequate to lead Israel out of Egypt, but God gave him the courage. And we see what happened when they were trapped up against the Red Sea. The sea parted and they walked through, and the Egyptians were destroyed. What about Ruth? After losing her husband, Ruth chose to stay with her mother in law, declaring, Where you go, I will go, and where you stay, I will stay. God provided for her through Boaz, leading her to become the great grandmother of King David. We look at David's life. Having God's call to be the next king. He faced a giant. David actually faced many giants in his life. The king he was supposed to replace chased him to the ends of the earth, trying to kill him. Wouldn't that be difficult with God's call in your life? Saying you're the king? But we know the giant he faced, Goliath, he trusted in God's strength. And in his words he said, I come against you in the name of the Lord of hosts. In 1 Samuel 17. Job. Job faced unspeakable loss in his life and suffering. Lost his wealth, his children, his health, and yet refused to curse God. Refused to turn away from God. Chose to trust God. And in the end, God restored everything back to Job. Give me a second, I lost my spot. How about Daniel? You know, Daniel was thrown in the lion's den for not worshiping a false God. We see God working in the life of Daniel. Says no wound was found on him because he had trusted in his God. May that be us. Story after story of people God used to work out his purpose on this earth. You know, it's easy to look back and see God's plan and all the details. But in the moment, we can only see God's plan as we trust him by faith. And I can see that in my life. I can say that for my life. You know, it's easier looking back and seeing God's work. But to realize that he's continuing a work in my life and in your life, it takes faith and trust. What is happening in your story today? What is God allowing you to walk through today? Can we say with Apostle Paul in these verses? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Are you a more than conquering this morning? Are you convinced that none of these things will separate you as the Apostle Paul told us? I hope so. I pray so. Couple verses I'm going to leave with you as we close here. First John 5 4. For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that overcome the world, even our faith. Isaiah 40, verse 31. But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint. James 1, verse 12. Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial. Because having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. Romans five, three and four. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character, and character, hope. May that be our prayer today to allow God to use the things that come into our life to develop character, perseverance, and hope in each one of us. And that is my prayer for you today. May God bless you. Let's stand for a word of prayer. Rolland, did you get that song? We're going to have prayer and then we'll close with a song, and after that, you can be dismissed. Let's pray. God, we thank you. We praise you this morning for your word. We thank you for your promises that we've seen today in this scripture. That you will be with us. That nothing that is formed against us will prosper. But you are the Almighty God. You're the one we can trust. You're the all-powerful God, and nothing that comes against you will prosper or gain traction. Lord, we just pray for victory. We pray for blessing over the lives of each and every person here. May you go before us. May you walk with us. May you give us courage. May you fill us with your faith, with faith, that we may walk, we may do your will as you call us to. We pray a protection and blessing upon those traveling, those not here. Just pray that you'd be with them also. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.