We are more than Conquerors Romans 8:31-39

THE SPHERE OF OUR VICTORY

THE STRENGTH OF OUR VICTORY

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

 Back of all that foes have plotted, Back of all that saints have planned,

Back of schemes by men or demons, Moves a higher, hidden Hand.

Warp and woof are Heaven's making, All the pattern good and wise;

Tho' on earth's side oft perplexing, Clear and right to heavenly eyes.

All earth's agents act with freedom, Choosing, whether love or hate,

Faith in God, or bold defiance; None are shackled slaves of fate.

Yet the Hand that guides is hidden, Moving secret and unseen,

Firmly guiding life's great drama, Every act and shifting scene.

Even human wrath, unknowing, Serves the one controlling Will;

Man proposes; God disposes; All things His design fulfil.

To that goal of all the ages, All of history's windings tend;

And despite all foes or factions  God proves Victor in the end.  AT Pierson

THE SOURCE OF OUR VICTORY

No Foe Can Defeat Us Because God is our Sovereign Protector

(8:31) What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?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?  John 10:27 "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 "And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.29 "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand.

"Who is against us?" (8:31) No Foe Can Defeat Us

No Foe Can Defeat Us Because God is our Sovereign Protector

John 10:27 "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 "And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.29 "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand.

No POWER can prevail against us! No PERSON can prevail against us!  No PROBLEM can prevail against us

No Failure Can Disinherit Us Because God is our Gracious Benefactor

33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.

Yes we have heard this before in the book of Romans, and this probably is the theme that Paul has most often labored for those he wrote to and spoke to, to really understand. Katherine Hankey's hymn says, "I love to tell the story, for those who know it best/Seem hungering and thirsting to hear it like the rest."

But we do need to hear it (and often), for the very reason Paul is writing about assurance. And the reason he is writing about assurance and at such length is that we tend to waver on this subject and doubt our salvation. This is particularly true when we fall into sin, whether outright sins of commission or those more subtle sins of the mind or spirit.

We need many reminders of The Power of God's Past Love !

1.The Power of God's Love In The Past

"Who will bring a charge against God's elect?" (8:33)

D. Martin Lloyd Jones says  So the teaching is that what happened on the Cross was something God had planned and foreordained before the foundation of the world.  The Cross is not an accident;  it is not only the result of the malice and the jealousy and envy and the blindness and the folly of men;  it was according to the 'determined counsel and foreknowledge of God.'  And so it is stated here in Romans 8:32 'He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all.'  That the death on the Cross was God's action is essential to this argument.  What God has done is my guarantee of what God will yet do…. The God who has 'delivered up his own Son for us' cannot lose interest in us, cannot cease to love us whatever we may do or say.  His act upon the Cross guarantees it.  If He has already 'delivered up' His Son, He will do everything else.  'Surely he will also with him freely give us all things.'  All things that are necessary for perseverance, every grace that we can ever need, we shall have.  Whatever my circumstances, wherever I am, whatever the trials, troubles, tribulations, whatever my weakness, frailty, whatever my sin, it makes no difference;  He who freely gave up His Son for me, will with Him also freely give me all things.

The Lord wants you reminded often that you have been loved so much that He sent His Son to die for you!

No Fault Can Distress Us Because Jesus is our Legal Advocate

34 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.

"Christ Jesus is He who died . . ." That's the doctrine of substitution. The Son of God paid the debt of sin on our behalf.

"Who was raised . . ." That's the doctrine of resurrection. The Son of God was raised to new life and, by our identification with Him, we, too, have new life. He [Jesus] was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification" (Rom. 4:25).

What does that mean, "raised to life for our justification"? As the Bible describes them, both the resurrection and justification are works of God. So the verse is saying that God raised Jesus from the dead in some way that relates to his work of justification. Since justification is based on Christ's propitiation, the connection between resurrection and justification is not one of cause and effect. Rather, it must be one of demonstration. The point of the resurrection is to verify the justification, which is based upon the death. It is God's way of showing that Jesus' death was a true atonement and that all who believe on him are indeed justified from all sin.

When Jesus was alive on earth he said that he was going to die for sin, becoming a ransom for many. In time He did die and was placed in a tomb where he lay for three days.  Had he died for sin? He said that was what he was going to do, but the words alone do not prove his death was an atonement. Suppose Jesus was deluded? What if he only thought he was the Son of God and the Saviour? Or again, suppose he was not sinless? He claimed to have been sinless.

But then the morning of the resurrection comes. The body of Jesus is raised, and the stone is rolled back from the opening of the tomb so the women and later others can see and verify that he has indeed been raised. Now there is no doubt, for it is inconceivable that God the Father should thus verify the claims of Jesus if he was not his unique Son and was not therefore a true and effective Saviour of His people.

As the great Bible teacher Reuben A. Torrey said in one of his books, "I look at the cross of Christ, and I know that atonement has been made for my sins; I look at the open sepulcher and the risen and ascended Lord, and I know that the atonement has been accepted. There no longer remains a single sin on me, no matter how many or how great my sins may have been. My sins may have been as high as the mountains, but in the light of the resurrection the atonement that covers them is as high as heaven. My sins may have been as deep as the ocean, but in the light of the resurrection the atonement that swallows them up is as deep as eternity."

2.The Power of God's Love In The Present

"Who is at the right hand of God . . ." That's the doctrine of accession. The Son of God has received the title to the entire universe and now rules as its king and ultimate judge.

Christ's "session," his being seated at God's right hand. Since the "right hand" was considered the place of honor, for Jesus to be seated there involves his exultation. That alone is significant in regard to our eternal security, for it means that the One who has achieved it for us by his death has been honored for precisely that achievement.

But there is more to the doctrine than even this. The most important thing about Jesus' being seated is that sitting implies a finished work. As long as a person is standing, there is still work to do. But once it is finished, the person rests from that work, as God rested from his "work of creating" (Gen. 2:2).

Then comes this important statement in chapter 10: "Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest [Jesus Christ] had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy" (Heb. 10:11-14) The Jewish temple had no chairs in it, though there were other articles of furniture. This signified that the work of the priests was never done. Indeed, even the great sacrifice offered on the Day of Atonement had to be repeated year by year. But when Christ offered himself as a sacrifice, that sacrifice was the perfect fulfillment of the prior types and a true and utterly sufficient atonement for sin. It did not have to be repeated. Therefore, when Jesus had offered this sacrifice and it was accepted by God the Father, he showed that the work was completed by sitting down at God's right hand.  Where is Jesus now? He is seated at God's right hand. So whenever you doubt your salvation and are becoming disturbed by such thoughts, look to Jesus at the right hand of the Father, realize that he is there because his work of sacrifice is completed, that nothing can ever add to it or take away from it, and that you are therefore completely secure in him.

"Who also intercedes for us . . ." That's the doctrine of intercession. The Son of God is our advocate, our representative in heaven, faithfully looking out for our welfare.

Dale Ortlund writes "What is intercession?  What then does it mean for Christ to intercede? Who are the parties involved? God the Father, on the one hand, and we believers, on the other. But why would Jesus need to intercede for us? After all, haven't we been completely justified already? What is there for Christ to plead on our behalf? Hasn't he already done all that is needed to fully acquit us? In other words, does the doctrine of Christ's heavenly intercession mean that something was left incomplete in his atoning work on the cross? If we speak of the finished work of Christ on the cross, does the doctrine of intercession suggest that the cross was actually left unfinished? The answer is that intercession applies what the atonement accomplished. Christ's present heavenly intercession on our behalf is a reflection of the fullness and victory and completeness of his earthly work, not a reflection of anything lacking in his earthly work. The atonement accomplished our salvation; intercession is the moment-by-moment application of that atoning work. In the past, Jesus did what he now talks about; in the present, Jesus talks about what he then did. This is why the New Testament weds justification and intercession, such as in Romans 8:33–34: "Who shall bring any 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." Intercession is the constant hitting "refresh" of our justification in the court of heaven. Pressing in more deeply, Christ's intercession reflects how profoundly personal our rescue is. If we knew about Christ's death and resurrection but not his intercession, we would be tempted to view our salvation in overly formulaic terms. It would feel more mechanical than is true to who Christ actually is. His interceding for us reflects his heart—the same heart that carried him through life and down into death on behalf of his people is the heart that now manifests itself in constant pleading with and reminding and prevailing upon his Father to always welcome us.

This does not mean the Father is reluctant to embrace us, or that the Son has a more loving disposition toward us than the Father does.  The atoning work of the Son was something the Father and the Son delightedly agreed to together in eternity past. The Son's intercession does not reflect the coolness of the Father but the sheer warmth of the Son.

Christ does not intercede because the Father's heart is tepid toward us but because the Son's heart is so full toward us. But the Father's own deepest delight is to say yes to the Son's pleading on our behalf. Even if we believed fully in the doctrine of justification and knew all our sins were totally forgiven, we would not come to Christ gladly if he were an austere Savior. But his posture right now as he is in heaven, his disposition, his deepest desire, is to pour his heart out on our behalf before the Father. The intercession of Christ is his heart connecting our heart to the Father's heart.

Hebrews 7:25, is perhaps the key text in all the New Testament on the doctrine of Christ's intercession. After reflecting on Christ's abiding, permanent priesthood, the writer concludes:

Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession  for them.

The phrase "to the uttermost" is one Greek word (panteles)… comprehensiveness, completeness, exhaustive wholeness. Christ doesn't merely help us. He saves us. This may seem obvious to those of us who have been walking with the Lord for some time. Of course Jesus saves us. But consider how your heart works. Do you not find within yourself an unceasing low-grade impulse to strengthen his saving work through your own contribution? We tend to operate as if Hebrews 7:25 says that Jesus "is able to save for the most part those who draw near to God through him." But the salvation Christ brings is panteles; it is comprehensive. time aspect of this salvation. Because Jesus "holds his priesthood permanently" and "continues forever" in it (v. 24), unlike previous priests who all died (v. 23), Christ "is able to save to the uttermost."

Our presence in God's good favor and family will never sputter and die, like an engine running out of Petrol. Christ's heavenly intercession is the reason we know that he will save us to the uttermost. Here's what this means. The divine Son never ceases (note the word "always") to bring his atoning life, death, and resurrection before his Father in a moment-by-moment way. Christ "turns the Father's eyes to his own righteousness," wrote Calvin, "to avert his gaze from our sins. He so reconciles the Father's heart to us that by his intercession he prepares a way and access for us to the Father's throne."  Do we realize what this means? Note the blessed realism of the Bible. This is the explicit acknowledgment that we Christians are ongoing sinners.

Christ continues to intercede on our behalf in heaven because we continue to fail here on earth. He does not forgive us through his work on the cross and then hope we make it the rest of the way. One way to think of Christ's intercession, then, is simply this: Jesus is praying for you right now. "It is a consoling thought," wrote theologian Louis Berkhof, "that Christ is praying for us, even when we are negligent in our prayer life."4 Our prayer life stinks most of the time. But what if you heard Jesus praying aloud for you in the next room?

Richard Sibbes wrote: What a comfort it is now in our daily approach to God to minister boldness to us in all our suits, that we go to God in the name of one that he loves, in whom his soul delights, that we have a friend in court, a friend in heaven for us, that is at the right hand of God, and interposes himself there for us, in all our suits that makes us acceptable, that perfumes our prayers and makes them acceptable. . . . Be sure therefore in all our suits to God to take along our elder brother. . . . God looks upon us, lovely in him and delights in us, as we are members of him.

Our sinning goes to the uttermost. But his saving goes to the uttermost. And his saving always outpaces and overwhelms our sinning, because he always lives to intercede for us.

When you sin, remember your legal standing before God because of the work of Christ; but remember also your advocate before God because of the heart of Christ. He rises up and defends your cause, based on the merits of his own sufferings and death. Your salvation is not merely a matter of a saving formula, but of a saving person. When you sin, his strength of resolve rises all the higher. When his brothers and sisters fail and stumble, he advocates on their behalf because it is who he is. He cannot bear to leave us alone to fend for ourselves.

The Power of Christ's Promised Love

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,39 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.

The love of Christ was eternal, for it was that love which moved him to leave heaven's throne and come down to this earth to redeem us. That love was deep, for it was that love which urged him on to the end of the road as he humbled himself to the death, even the death of the cross. That love was broad, for it was that love which opened the arms of God to all the world of sinners and made it possible for the very ones who nailed him to the cross to be forgiven and come back to the Father's heart. And that love is unchanging, for it is that love which comes to us today in the midst of our need, whatever it may be, and takes us out of darkness and into light, and from doubt to certainty, and from death to life.  Here that love is presented to us in the phase of its permanence. God stoops to tell us that Christ is not fickle.

For most people in our age, as also in the past, the most fearful of all adversaries is death—and rightly so. Apart from what we are told about death and the afterlife in Scripture, death is an unknown, save that it ends our existence here and is inescapable. That is frightening. Francis Bacon wrote rightly, "Men fear death as children fear the dark." They do. They tremble before it.

Moreover, death is the greatest of all separators. Obviously it separates us from life itself. But it also separates us from places and people we love. And it separates the soul and the spirit from the body, and separates both from God if the individual is not saved. Terrible! Yes, but for the believer in Christ this is not the final word. Death does separate us from things of the world, including other people. But it can never separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.

How do we know this? We know because Christ has conquered death. He has triumphed over it.

Paul assured the Corinthians that, "'Death has been swallowed up in victory' [cf. Isa. 25:8]. 'Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?' [cf. Hos. 13:14]. The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 15:54-57).

Paul wrote to Timothy in the same fashion, saying that "our Savior, Christ Jesus,... has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to life through the gospel" (2 Tim. 1:10).

The plain truth is, this love that God has for His redeemed children is a preserving, protecting, persevering love.

No PROBLEM can separate us from the love of God

No PERSON  can separate us from the love of God

No POWER can separate us from the love of God

No PERSECUTION can separate us from the love of God

No PAIN can separate us from the love of God

No POSSIBLE THING can separate us from the love of God.

Now be careful to understand that God's love for us does not make us exempt from facing severe PERSECUTION, PAIN, PROBLEMS…..

There will be times when we are under severe attack from evil spiritual powers

There will be times when we face terrifying persecution

There will be times when we are attacked by hateful people

There will be times when we face horrific problems and adversity

There will be times when we are consumed with pain

We will be like sheep to the slaughter!

People who are the direct objects of God's redeeming love grow more in love with Him through pain, problems, and persecution….  They never grow bitter, angry or distant from God.

His love will not let us fall, His love will not let us stumble, His love will not let us quit

His love will not let us fail, His love will not let us grow faint and give up

His love will not let us grow angry or bitter, His love will not let us lose faith,

His love will not let us fall..

No matter how severe the pain or the persecution we may face…. His love will make us "more than conquerors" through it all.

A sovereign protector I have,     Unseen, yet for ever at hand;

Unchangeably faithful to save,      Almighty to rule and command.

He smiles, and my comforts abound; His grace as the dew shall descend,

And walls of salvation surround    The soul He delights to defend.

The Hiding Place, by Corrie ten Boom, with John and Elizabeth Sherrill. This autobiography (1971), later made into a film (1975), is the account of Corrie ten Boom, filled with stories of her growing understanding of God's love in the midst of tragedy. Four members of the ten Boom family gave their lives because of their work in the Dutch underground during World War II, hiding Jews from Nazi persecution. Corrie and her sister were imprisoned in three different camps, including the notorious Ravensbrück near Berlin, the camp where Betsie ten Boom died and from which Corrie was released. Corrie is famous for the words she learned from her sister: "There is no pit so deep that God's love is not deeper still,"

Vines: "It means no isolation (vv. 38-39). Paul stands "persuaded" no enemies will ever finally prevail against God's children. Death cannot trouble us, demonic powers cannot terrify us, and neither "things present nor things to come" (v. 38) will traumatize us. Whether it is the highest star or the lowest, no created being or thing removes us from God's love in Christ."