If you have your Bibles, please turn with me to Romans 8, and we’ll look at verses 31-39. Some Bibles have the heading “More than Conquerors.”
In Dansville’s American Legion building, there is an item on display there from The Civil War. It is a Congressional Medal of Honor awarded to a man named Jerry Wall for capturing a Confederate Flag at the Battle of Gettysburg.
Our Daily Bread calls Gettysburg, Pennsylvania as the site of the battle that turned the tide of America’s Civil War.
One of the focal points of the conflict was a rocky knoll called Little Round Top where Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and the men of the 20th Maine Infantry stood their ground. Had the Confederate troops gotten past Chamberlain’s men, some historians believe the Union army would have been surrounded—possibly leading to the loss of the war. The “20th Maine” was the last line of defense.
Followers of Christ are also engaged in a vital war. As we battle “the wiles of the devil” (Eph. 6:11), we are called to wear the armor of God and to stand firm in the conflict (vv.10-18).
And like the Gettysburg soldiers, we have a “last line of defense.” For us, though, this defense is greater than any human force. In Romans 8:31-39, Paul says that our ultimate confidence is in the undying love of Christ. So complete is our protection that nothing can “separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (v.39).
When the enemy seems overwhelming and all seems lost, remember, we have an unbeatable last line of defense: “We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (v.37).
Scripture: Let’s take a look at those verses. Romans 8:31-39.
31 What, then, shall we say in response 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, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 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. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 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.
Earlier in Chapter 8, we read about living in two worlds––the world of the flesh and the world of the spirit. Then we read about what it means to be born of the Spirit and children of God. And Paul segues that into groaning for home, groaning for our true new selves to be fully released from this physical, cursed world.
Today, we are going to talk about God’s love for us and our victory in Him. We sing the hymn “Victory in Jesus,” and this set of verses talks about that. God is with us in this journey we call life, and nothing can separate us from the love of God. With Him by our side, we are more than conquerors because one day we will fully conquer sin and death. Even in the meantime, we are conquering sin and death through His Spirit alive within us.
Verse 31 begins with, “What, then, shall we say in response to these things?” That is, all these things wrapped up together. Everything Paul was talking about in the last few verses. How do we wrap this up? How do we put all of this together? What is the one thing that Paul is trying to get across to his readers?
He wraps it up with this: If God is for us, who can be against us?
Now, I know what some of you are thinking. Sometimes we feel like Charlie Brown where the whole world is against us–my boss, my kids, my spouse, my own negative thinking, my car is against me, my pet is against me, my house is against me.…
But what is most important–and most realistic is that Satan is against us.
Satan’s attacks against us come in various forms.
1) He uses the ungodly world (which he controls, 1 John 5:19) to stir up fleshly lusts within us that tempt us to sin.
2) He uses the unbelieving world to attempt to deceive us with worldly “wisdom” opposed to God’s truth.
3) He uses false Christians to try to mislead us into a false gospel centered on a false Jesus.
4) He sometimes physically afflicts us or our loved ones with sickness, crime, tragedy, or persecution.
Yet even so, if God is for us, who can be against us? In other words, as John pointed out in his first epistle, 4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5 They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us.
Going back to Romans again, Paul says that, “God did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—that is, you personally. How will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”
What is meant by “all things?” Some who preach Word of Faith and Prosperity Gospels will include wealth and materialism in “all things.” Now God is good, and God, our heavenly Father, is our provider. But if you follow the logic of the Word of Faith and Prosperity Gospel preachers, then why do the ungodly have more practical things than we have?
I’m not talking about the fancy stuff, just the everyday things?
Gotquestions.org, said this: The prophet Jeremiah grappled with the issue when he asked the Lord: “Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease? You have planted them, and they have taken root; they grow and bear fruit. You are always on their lips but far from their hearts” (Jeremiah 12:1–2). Job struggled similarly: “Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?” (Job 21:7). And the psalmist expressed envy when he saw the prosperity of the wicked, wondering if living righteously was worth the trouble (Psalm 73:3, 13). How does a holy God of love allow His people to suffer while the wicked thrive?
Perhaps a better question is, why are we tempted to envy the wicked?
These ‘things’ are not physical, material things. We just read in verse 36, Paul quoted from Psalms when he said, “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
John Piper, a Baptist minister in Minneapolis, said that “all things include the bad things” too. He said that, when Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, those who are called according to his purpose,” we have a taste of the kinds of things that are included in the “all things.” It is not all good things. It is all things — including all the bad things. In fact, the whole context before and after Romans 8:28 is painful. That’s why Romans 8:28 is here. We need encouragement and hope, because before and after this verse, the prospect of the Christian life on this earth is bleak.
Paul goes on to clarify his point. When all is said and done, and we experience ‘all things’ in life, the main point is that in the end, who will judge us and where will we stand on judgement day?
33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 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. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
So here, we see that as we face ‘all things,’ as we are given the promise in Romans 8:28––that when we face hardships, these hardships will not only work for our good but these hardships are not a sign that God has left the building. He has not left planet earth, he has not left his throne, and he has not left us.
He might seem distant. But that does not mean that he is distant. He might seem like he’s out to lunch, or taking a nap, or on his coffee break. But God is not a State DOT worker. He’s non-union. He doesn’t keep banking hours. He’s always with us, no matter how it seems.
There is a meme with a quote from A.W. Tozer that has been making the rounds through social media for the past few years. I’ve quoted it before, some of you have shared it yourselves, let me quote it again: “While it looks like things are out of control, behind the scenes there is a God who has not surrendered his authority.”
Jesus said that God “causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
So if we who are in Christ are no longer condemned, what do we have to lose? We’ve won. The game is rigged in our favor, and Satan knows it. And he hates it. He hates it because no matter what he flings at us in the here and now, we win. And no matter what trials we go through–even persecution and death–he, the Devil–Ol’ Splithooves, still loses. And so we can rejoice in anything.
Paul said to the Philippian church, 21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; 24 but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that through my being with you again your boasting in Christ Jesus will abound on account of me.
To die in Christ is victory. Paul was torn on whether or not to live.
That’s why Paul goes on to explain that “in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”
Charles Spurgeon said that the words “more than conquerors” might be more accurately rendered “more exceeding conquerors.” It could also be said that we are “over-overcomers.”
He also said that [in the end] The Christian loses nothing…[in fact], the Christian’s faith, when tried, grows stronger.
You can see the devil losing at his own game. Whatever he throws at the Christian might do some damage, it might put some kinks in our armor, but in the long run, it only makes the Christian stronger. The old saying, “no pain, no gain,” works in the life of a Christian. Sometimes those hardships that Paul is talking about in Romans 8:28 prepare us for a growth in our character, like I talked about last week.
That growth in our character produces a victory through hardship. It makes us stronger, and eventually we become ‘more than conquerors’ through Christ. We become not only conquerors, but also more Christlike. We don’t just win a battle, we become something through that battle; we become refined and more holy. We become more victorious, and we become more effective for the Kingdom.
If we go back a few chapters, to chapter 5, we read Paul saying, “we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” So here, we see that we can glory in our sufferings because of all that is produced in a Christian through suffering.
So with the promise that we are ‘more than conquerors,’ we are given another promise. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 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.
The trials that we go through do not separate us from God, nor is it an indication that we are separated from God.
I mentioned this last week: we often think that we are going through something because we deserve it. We often run through the ‘checklist’ in our minds to see what we have or haven’t done to deserve this. Sometimes it’s just life. Sometimes it’s for our growth so that we can have victory over something. But we have to face that ‘certain something’ in order to overcome it.
To the Christian, there is no condemnation. We are children of God and therefore heirs with Christ and groan to be set free as such. Because of this, God promises his love will be with us and there is nothing more powerful than God and his love. Nothing can separate us from the love of God.
Can you imagine Paul coming to this conclusion? The first time Paul really understood this for himself? You remember who Paul was before becoming a Christian, right? He was a violent man. He persecuted Christians. He was at the stoning of Stephen, the first apostle to be murdered. Who knows where he was during the crucifixion of Christ? I would imagine he wasn’t too far away.
The apostles were afraid of Paul. And then when Paul came to Christ, he had to suffer the same consequences, the same persecution that he once made others suffer. He was one who had to struggle with doubt at times. Does God really love me? Am I really forgiven? What about the past?
I’ve mentioned this before. But no one knows what Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” was in 2 Corinthians. If I were to guess, I’d have to imagine it was the guilt and shame of persecuting God. Condemning people to death for the sake of righteousness. That had to have eaten at him.
Paul had to come to terms with his own past. He knew what it was like to have no more condemnation. To know the power of being an overcomer and more than a conqueror. He came to realize what it meant to be someone who needed the love of God and through enduring tremendous hardships he realized through experience--not dogma or religiosity–but through tremendous experiences that nothing separated him from the love of God.
Bob Christopher, writing for Crosswalk.com, said, Notice the impact of God’s love on Paul. He walked through life knowing that God was for him. He lived expecting God to provide his every need. The charges leveled against him by the accuser rolled off his back as he stood in the righteousness of God. He lived as a conqueror through Christ who loved him dearly. He was convinced that nothing life threw at him could ever separate him from the love of God.
If God can convince Paul that nothing separates us from God’s love, then he can convince us of that, too. If God is for us, who can be against us?
If God has redeemed us, and nothing can separate us from God’s love, what do we have to worry about? Even in death, we have victory. In fact, it is the ultimate victory. No matter what happens in life, God is for us. No matter what we go through, God’s love is still with us. No matter what we do, God’s love is not separated from us. No matter where we are, we stand under the blood of Jesus, which means that if God is for us, then who can be against us?
The devil may try, but he is not more powerful than God. If God is for us on the day of judgement, then what do we have to fear in the here and now?
Prayer
Dear Lord, thank you for your love. Your love is more powerful than anything we may face. Yes, we have hard times. We don’t always see you, and there are times when we may have a hard time knowing you are there.
Lord, please remind us in these times that you are for us, and though the devil is against us, it is nothing compared to you and your great love. May your love shine within us today and this week. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Featured Image by Gidon Pico from Pixabay
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