Read Rom. 8:31-39, More Secure is No One Ever!

I have some sermon notes written on the back of a gas station receipt.  The paper sits in Rom. 8 in my Bible, and the sermon was preached by my son in a Montana village called York.  He was concluding having taught through Romans 1-8 with a church, and the conclusion was a review of the seven questions in Rom. 8:31-39.  This is for your meditation.

1.    What then shall we say to these things?  He was likely talking about the “things” of Rom. 1-8 (sin, justification, sanctification) with the special reminder of the ministry of the Holy Spirit in Rom. 8.

2.    If God is for us, who can be against us?  It is rightfully scary if God is against you (Jer. 50:31; 51:25).  But it is profound if God is for us.  Is He?  Read on!

3.    He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?  My son illustrated this by asking, if I give you my pickup why would I not give you the floor mats?  Meditate on Rom. 5:8,10; 1 Pt. 1:3-5.

4.    Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect?  Certainly these questions seem rhetorical.  Of course, NO ONE!  We have already concluded (Rom. 3-5) that God is the One who justified us, declared us righteous.  God did that.  Not me.  So no one can bring a charge against us.

5.    Who is he who condemns?  Again, NO ONE!  Rom. 8:1: There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.  He has done all that had to be done, by His death, resurrection, and session at the right hand of the Father.  Jn. 5:24: Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My 2word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

6.    Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? 

7.    Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

The last two questions go together.  And the answer is longer.  Psalm 44:11 is quoted in v36.  The point is that the things in question #7 are very real.  They are not imaginary or impossible.  Not only are these things, nor anything, able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord; we are also “more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”  Rom. 8:28 refers to “all things” that work for good to those who love God.  “All these things” do not remove us from God’s love but make us more than conquerors!

Meditate on these things!