Rev. David Holwick N Easter 2000
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
April 23, 2000
Romans 8:31-39
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I. Easter as a day of triumph.
A. Flowers, new clothes, packed churches.
1) Yet triumph is weird - resurrection is otherworldly.
a) Even the apostles didn't believe it at first.
b) They thought the first encounters were just dreams.
c) Most of us don't have vivid encounters like them.
2) Early Christians still faced big problems, just like us.
a) We can feel defeated.
B. Do hard times discount the power and promises of God?
1) Romans 8 is God's answer.
2) (I want this text for my funeral)
II. God's love gives us all things. 8:31-32
A. Simple truth: God is for us.
1) In many religions God is unknowable, indifferent, distant.
a) God of Bible is both "higher" and "nearer."
b) "for us" testifies to his action on our behalf.
1> He is not merely neutral.
2) We must realize how far God went to prove it.
B. He gave us his Son. Gen 22:16
1) In Romans 1:24,26,28 it says God "gave up" rebellious
people to sinful desires, lusts, depraved minds.
a) Here in 8:32, same word used of God's action.
b) God delivered his Son to the same depravity to which
he consigned defiant humanity, in order to
redeem us.
2) "did not spare" - echoes Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac.
a) Ultimate dedication.
b) Abraham was spared anguish, by substitution.
c) God did not spare himself, for our sakes.
1> No other substitution could be made for our sin.
C. We need many things.
1) The God we ask has already given us his own Son.
a) Everything else is a lesser gift.
2) The cross proves the generosity of God.
III. God's love comes to our defense. 8:33-34
A. Legal language.
1) Maybe some of you are involved in lawsuits right now.
a) Everyone looks down on lawyers - till they are sued.
b) Then we want the meanest, cheatingest attorney we
can find.
2) God is the ultimate judge. 8:33
a) Better than Judge Judy.
b) He has already acquitted (justified) us, because
of his Son.
3) Jesus is our attorney. 8:34; 1 John 2:1
a) If we sin, he speaks to the Father in our defense.
b) Four aspects of his work in one sentence:
1> Died - to remove penalty of our sin.
2> Raised - his victory over death.
3> Exalted to right hand - position of influence.
4> Interceding - help for our daily needs.
B. Put your troubles in perspective.
Greatest preacher 1,400 years ago - Chrysostom. "Golden mouthed."
Very popular with people, and a brilliant scholar.
Chrysostom was bold when it came to condemning sin and he was
called before the Emperor, whom he had offended.
He threatened Chrysostom with exile unless he apologized.
Chrysostom replied,
"You cannot exile me because this world is my father's house."
"I will kill you," said the Emperor.
"No, you cannot, because my life is hid with Christ in God."
"I will take away your treasures."
"No, you cannot, for my treasure is in heaven and my heart is
there."
The Emperor was furious at this point.
"I will drive you away from man and you shall have no friend left."
"No, you cannot, for I have a friend in heaven from whom you cannot
separate me...
"I defy you; for there is nothing that you can do to hurt me!"
#886
IV. God's love overcomes all. 8:35-37
A. Nouns refer to dangers to faith from physical adversities.
1) Hardships, destitution and violence could happen to any
of us.
a) Even death can come.
2) How can Christians consider themselves saved and yet
continue to suffer misfortune?
a) Adversity has always happened to those committed to
God. Psalm 44:22
B. Victory takes place through suffering, not apart from it.
1) More than conquerors - a militant expression. 8:37
a) God works through harsh realities.
2) The victory comes not by escaping suffering, nor even in
courage in the face of suffering, but in God's love in
the midst of suffering.
3) It is not our hold on Christ which sees us through, but
his hold on us.
V. God's love gives us the victory. 8:38-39
A. Threats to faith are heightened to the cosmic & supernatural.
1) Life and death - the ultimate contrasts.
2) Both good and evil powers are at work in universe.
3) Height and depth - astrological terms. "universe"
B. As dangers heighten, so does Paul's confidence in God's love.
1) Convinced - an unshakable conviction based on past
experience.
2) These powers, however mysterious and menacing, cannot
overwhelm God's love.
3) The cross of Christ was their decisive defeat.
a) God's love cannot be defeated, nor will it let go.
C. We are "super victors."
1) We need that conviction.
The following story illustrates God's sovereignty and the power
of His Word in troubled times more than any other I know.
The circumstances and details are overwhelming.
During Ravi Zacharias's ministry in Vietnam in 1971, one of his
interpreters was a man named Hien Pham.
Hien was an energetic, devoted young Christian who had worked
closely as a translator with the American military forces.
He was excellent as a translator so the missionaries used him,
too.
He and Zecharias traveled the length of the country and became
very close friends before Ravi left Vietnam to return home.
Both were very young, and neither knew if their paths would cross
again.
Within four years Vietnam fell, and Hien's fate was unknown.
Seventeen years later, in 1988, Zecharias received a surprise
telephone call that began with, "Brother Ravi?"
Immediately he recognized Hien's voice.
They got caught up with their pleasantries, then Ravi asked him
how he had managed to get out of Vietnam and come to the
United States.
Ravi was not prepared for the story he was about to hear.
Shortly after Vietnam fell to the Communists, Hien was arrested.
Accused of aiding and abetting the Americans he was in and out
of prison for several years.
During one long jail term, the sole purpose of his jailers was
to indoctrinate him against the West - and especially against
democratic ideals and the Christian faith.
He was cut off from reading anything in English and restricted
to communist propaganda in French or Vietnamese.
This daily overdose of the writings of Marx and Engels began to
take its toll on him.
MAYBE, he thought, I have been lied to.
Maybe God does not exist.
Maybe my whole life has been governed by lies.
Maybe the West has deceived me.
The more he thought, the more he moved toward a decision.
Finally, he made up his mind.
He determined that when he awakened the next day, he would not
pray anymore or ever think of his Christian faith again.
The next morning, he was assigned to clean the latrines of the
prison.
It was the most dreaded chore, shunned by everyone, and so with
much distress he began the awful task.
As he cleaned out a tin can filled to overflowing with toilet
paper, his eye caught what he thought was English printed
on one piece of paper.
He hurriedly washed it off and slipped it into his hip pocket,
planning to read it at night.
Not having seen anything in English for such a long time, he
anxiously waited for a free moment.
Under his mosquito net that night after his roommates had fallen
asleep, he pulled out a small flashlight and shined it on
the damp piece of paper.
He read at the top corner, "Romans, Chapter 8."
Literally trembling with shock, he began to read:
And we know that in all things God works for the good of
those who love him, who have been called according to
his purpose....
What, then, shall we say in response to this?
If God is for us, who can be against us?
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or
nakedness or danger or sword?
...
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through
him who loved us.
Nothing in all creation, will be able to separate us from
the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Hien wept.
He knew his Bible, and he had not seen one for so long.
Not only that, he knew there was not a more relevant passage of
conviction and strength for one on the verge of surrendering
to the threat of evil.
He cried out to God, asking for forgiveness, for this was to have
been the first day in years that he had decided not to pray.
Evidently the Lord had other plans.
The next day, Hien asked the camp commander if he could clean
the latrine again.
He continued with this chore on a regular basis, because he had
discovered that some official in the camp was using a Bible
as toilet paper.
Each day Hien picked up a portion of Scripture, cleaned it off,
and added it to his nightly devotional reading.
In this way he retrieved a significant portion of the Bible.
The day came when, through an equally providential set of
circumstances, Hien was released.
He promptly began to make plans to escape from the country.
After several unsuccessful attempts he began again to build a
boat in secret.
About fifty-three other people planned to escape with him, and
Hien was taking the lead.
All was going according to plan until a short while before the
date of their departure when four Vietcong knocked on Hien's
door.
When he opened it, they accosted him and said they had heard he
was trying to escape.
"Is it true?" they demanded.
Hien immediately denied it and went on to distract them with
some concocted story to explain his activities.
Apparently convinced, they reluctantly left.
Hien was relieved but very disappointed with himself.
"Here I go again, Lord, trying to manipulate my own destiny.
I am too unteachable in my spirit to really believe that You
can lead me past any obstacle."
He made a promise to God, fervently hoping that the Lord would
not take him up on it.
He prayed that if the Vietcong were to come back again, he would
tell them the truth.
Resting in the comfort of that impossibility, he was thoroughly
shaken when only a few hours before they were to set sail
the four men stood at his door once more.
"We have our sources, and we know you are trying to escape.
Is it true?"
Hien resignedly gave his answer, "Yes, I am, with 53 others.
Are you going to imprison me again?"
There was a pronounced pause.
And then they leaned forward and whispered, "No. We want to
escape with you!"
In an utterly incredible escape plan, all fifty-eight of them
found themselves on the high seas, suddenly engulfed by a
violent storm.
Hien fell with his face in his hands, crying out to God,
"Did You bring us here to die?"
As he concluded his story, he said, "Brother Ravi, if it were
not for the sailing ability of those four Vietcong, we would
not have made it."
They arrived safely in Thailand, and years later Hien arrived
on American soil where today he is a businessman - forever
grateful for America and praying that she would open her
heart as a nation to Christ.
#4313
Nothing is impossible for those who have Christ on their side.
No enemy can overcome us.
God gives us the victory.
=======================================================================
SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
# 886 Commentary on Romans, by Alan F. Johnson, 1974, page 33; Johnson
is quoting "History of Christianity," by Henry Hart Milman,
New York: Crowell, 1881, 4:144.
#4313 "Rev. Glenn Gunderson's Best Illustrations," quoting "Cries of
the Heart," by Ravi Zacharias, page 190.
These and 5,500 others are part of a database that can be downloaded,
absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
=======================================================================
STUDY NOTES:
John Stott
I. Five unanswerable questions. (31-39)
A. If God is for us, who is against us?
B. He did not spare his Son, will he not give us all things?
C. Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?
D. Who is he who condemns?
E. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
II. The questions are defiant and triumphant.
A. There is no answer.
B. Nobody and nothing can harm the redeemed people of God.
C. It is important to know why they are unanswered.
1) The assertion implied in each is grounded upon some
unanswerable truth.
III. Who is against us?
A. Without the introduction, there are many replies.
1) We have formidable enemies.
a) Unbelievers, indwelling sin, death, the devil.
B. But if GOD is for us...
1) Nothing can prevail against us if God is on our side.
IV. Will he not give us all things?
A. We need many things.
B. The God we ask has already given us his own Son.
1) Everything else is a lesser gift.
2) The cross proves the generosity of God.
V. Who shall bring any charge?
A. Seems to be a legal setting.
1) No prosecutor can prevail against our Attorney Jesus.
B. Who will accuse us?
1) Standing alone, not difficult to answer.
a) Our conscience, the devil.
VI. Who condemns?
A. Many seek to.
1) Our hearts (1 Jn 3:20-21), our critics, demons of hell.
B. Their condemnations fall flat.
1) Jesus died for our sins.
2) He intercedes for us with the Father.
VII. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
A. Paul provides possible answers.
1) The pressures of an ungodly world.
2) Dangers of famine.
3) Dangers of death, anticipated and real.
a) This is a real test. Psalm 44:22
B. More than conquerors.
1) Five words in one.
2) Through him who loved us: Christ has proved his love by
his sufferings; therefore OUR sufferings cannot
separate us from his love.
C. Climax: I am convinced...
1) Neither the crisis of death, nor the calamities of life,
nor superhuman agencies, good or bad, nor time, nor
space, nor anything else, will be able to separate us.
2) We need that conviction.
James R. Edwards, New International Biblical Commentary: Romans
I. Crescendo of grace.
A. Omnipotent grace. 31-32
B. Vindicating grace. 33-34
C. Overcoming grace. 35-37
D. Victorious grace. 38-39
1) God's love cannot be defeated, nor will it let go.
II. Simple truth: God is for us.
A. In many religions God is unknowable, indifferent, distant.
B. God of Bible is both "higher" and "nearer."
C. "for us" testifies to his action on our behalf.
1) We must realize the extent to which God went to
demonstrate its truth.
2) God delivered his Son to the same depravity to which he
consigned defiant humanity, in order to redeem us.
a) Cf. 1:24,26, 28 (sinful desires, lusts, depraved mind)
D. "did not spare" - echoes Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac.
1) Significant difference: Isaac was spared, Jesus was not.
E. "gave him up" - reflects Isaiah 53.
1) The cross is the assurance that God is for us in all
things necessary for salvation.
III. Vindication.
A. Who brings charge? Only God is left to condemn, and he has
pledged to preserve believers, not destroy them.
IV. Overcoming.
A. Each noun refers to dangers to faith from physical
adversities.
1) Sword is execution (death) for religion.
B. How can Christians consider themselves saved and yet continue
to suffer misfortune?
1) Adversity has always happened to those committed to God.
a) Psalm 44:22
2) (not misfortune but persecution)
C. Victory takes place through suffering, not apart from it.
1) More than conquerors - a militant expression.
a) God works through harsh realities.
2) The victory comes not by escaping suffering, nor even in
courage in the face of suffering, but in God's love in
the midst of suffering.
3) It is not our hold on Christ which sees us through, but
his hold on us.
V. Victory.
A. Threats to faith are heightened to the cosmic & supernatural.
1) Both good and evil powers are at work in universe.
2) Height and depth - astrological terms.
B. As dangers heighten, so does Paul's confidence in God's love.
1) Convinced - an unshakable conviction based on past
experience.
2) These powers, however mysterious and menacing, cannot
overwhelm God's love.
3) The cross of Christ was their decisive defeat.
a) The lordship of Jesus Christ is the final word.
b) John 16:33 - Take heart! I have overcome the world.
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
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