GOD FOR ME (Romans 8:31-32) – Sunday, August 23, 2015 – Summit EFC Series: The Righteous Shall Live By Faith (Romans), Message #31 – Pastor Doug Corlew
Romans 8:31-32 - 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? In the last chapter of his classic book, Knowing God, J.I. Packer says Romans is the high peak of the Bible, giving us the most unobstructed and dazzling views anywhere of our salvation in Jesus Christ. He also says chapter 8 is the high peak of Romans, as Paul picks up the theme of Christian assurance and develops it as forcibly as he can, from ‘no condemnation’ at the start to ‘no separation’ at the close. The first 30 verses deal with a whole series of predicaments: How do we overcome our bondage to sin, the fear of death, the pain of suffering, our paralysis in prayer, or the feeling that life is meaningless and hopeless? In each case, Paul shows that God’s grace is more than adequate. He declares us righteous in Christ, He gives us His Spirit, He makes us sons and daughters, He guarantees our eternal security. As Packer says, this should be more than enough to support a Christian whatever his trouble. So now in v 31, Paul is calling on us as readers to react to what he’s just said. What then shall we say to these things? Paul is like a small group leader now, trying to stimulate some lively discussion and practical application. “How are we going to respond to these great truths about God?” Packer says, we’re being challenged to think now! What shall we say? What do you say? Think about how all this works out in your present situation. Identify with Paul’s original readers, facing all kinds of pressures and trials. Quoting Packer: Here are Christian individuals troubled by the memory of a moral lapse; Christians whose integrity has lost them a friend or a job; Christian parents whose children are disappointing them; Christians facing serious problems of health or physical limitation; Christians made to feel like outsiders at home or at work because of their faith; Christians burdened by the death of someone they feel should have lived, or by the continued life of a senile relative or suffering child who they feel should have died; Christians who feel God cannot care for them or their life would be less rough; and more. But it is precisely people like this – people, in other words, like us – whom Paul is challenging, “What shall we say to these things? Think – think – think!” Then in v 31-39, Paul goes on to help us reason out the applications. He’s saying, “I know what I would say about these things, and I hope you would too!” Over the next three Sundays, we’ll finish out the chapter, which is filled with a series of questions. Questions, after all, make people think. Today we consider the first two of these questions in v 31-32, and the conclusions that reasonable people should draw. What shall we say to these things? 1st, we say that we have AN UNBEATABLE PROTECTOR. Paul asks in v 31, If God is for us, who can be against us? It’s like playoff basketball when one team has LeBron James. Or imagine if LeBron was allowed to play for your local high school team this year. Would there be any possibility of that team losing? I highly doubt it! But nothing is more certain than our final victory as believers in Jesus, if the Almighty God of the universe is on our side. Why? Because God is sovereign; He’s unbeatable! On the campaign trail, every candidate is looking for that key endorsement, because this can have a huge impact in a presidential primary. If an influential senator or governor throws their support behind you, a lot of rank-and-file voters will follow. To be elected, it’s important to have the right people for you. But imagine the impact if a candidate could convince everyone God had endorsed them! 1
During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln was asked if he thought God was on the side of the union. And he famously answered, “Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side.” Good wisdom, there. And Paul is saying, if you’re a Christian, you’re on God’s side. There’s no speculation or uncertainty implied by the word “if.” Not when you read it in context. In the verses just before this, Paul banished any possibility of doubt that God is for us. If we love God, it’s because God set His affection on us in advance, predestining us to be in the family. Then He called us and justified us, so we might be conformed to the likeness of our older Brother Jesus. Now He’s purposefully working all things together in our lives to that end. And our future glorification is so certain that Paul speaks of it in v 30 as if it’s already happened. Then he sums it all up by saying: God is for us! If you are in Christ, then God can’t be against you. He’s entirely for you; He’s never against you. If you’re sick, God isn’t pouring His wrath out on you. If your family isn’t what you hoped it would be, God isn’t punishing you for your sins. No, God is for us, and not against us, in all things. God is in covenant with us, He’s made a personal commitment to pursue our well-being. He is our God, and we are His people! To use the Biblical metaphors, God relates to us now as a Father, a Husband, and a King. He’s promised to protect us and care for us! Certainly God does discipline His children, for a time and for their own good, as any loving father would. I knew my dad was always for me, but that doesn’t mean he would smile approvingly on everything I did. His love for me meant that sometimes he would have to come against me to correct me and guide me in the right path. Likewise, God corrects His children, but He doesn’t condemn them. That’s not to say that everyone is on God’s side and He condemns no one. Jesus said, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” Again He said, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:18, 36). Do you know what it will be like at the end of the age for those who do not trust in Christ, when they realize that God is not for them, but against them? Revelation 6:15-17 tells us: Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” Since all of us have rejected God as our King and joined the rebellion, we should all be included in that future scene – scrambling to find a refuge from the wrath of God. He can’t possibly overlook our sin. He’s too holy for that. So we all deserve to perish. But in Romans 3 we learned that there is one place to find protection from God’s wrath: the cross of Jesus Christ. For those who trust in Him, the great day of God’s wrath already came 2,000 years ago, when Jesus was nailed there to die in our place. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ… There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 5:1; 8:1).
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And since God is for us, the question that must then be answered is, Who can be against us? Well Paul, for starters, you do go on to say in v 36, For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. I would presume that those would kill us are against us, that those who would slaughter us are against us. And according to Jesus, if this happens to me, I shouldn’t be surprised. For He said, “Some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But not a hair of your head will perish” (Luke 21:16-18). I know that’s not funny, but I always smile when I read that passage. “You will be hated, you might be killed – but not a hair of your head will perish!” So at least my hair will be safe? That’s small consolation, especially for me! Of course, what Jesus means is, no opposition can finally crush you. They can’t even touch one hair of your head without His permission. And no matter what happens to you in this world, you cannot suffer any eternal harm. Your real life is your inward fellowship with God and that can’t be snuffed out. So yes, some will be against us, but all they can do is kill us! That’s all. Because as David says in Psalm 56:9-11, God is for me! Even though his enemies are trampling on him all day long, David knows that God hasn’t forgotten or stopped caring for him. So he’s not going to panic. This I know, that God is for me… in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me? This is the question Paul is asking us to reason out in Romans 8:31. If God is for you, then count up everyone who could ever possibly be against you, and ask yourself how the two sides compare. Maybe it’s become a cliché, but it’s really true: One plus God is a majority. One person with God on his side must ultimately succeed, even if the rest of the human race is opposed to him. It doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll win the game, or win the election, or receive the scholarship, or get the promotion. It does mean that nothing can thwart the gracious and sovereign purposes of God in your life. He’s unbeatable – there’s no stopping this God! If He is for me, I have an Unbeatable Protector. And 2nd, I have AN UNSPARING PROVIDER. Paul asks us to think about another question in v 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? Someone could say, “OK, it’s true enough that no one can stop God. But even if He’s for us now, what if God gets tired of us, or forgets about us? What if God is like the husband who spends a few years with his wife and then moves on to be with someone else? What if He’s like the father who walks away from his kids because they’ve become a burden to him?” Maybe you’ve been dumped by people who you thought loved you. So you feel insecure, and it’s not easy to rely on God as unchanging and trustworthy. Paul deals with this in v 32 by going to the cross of Jesus Christ, and it’s very important that we learn to go here also, whenever we wonder if God is really for us, and still for us. Is God for me? Some people answer the question by saying, “Oh yes, I know God is for me because He’s prospering me. I have a sweet life. He’s blessing my family, my business, my church.” The problem is, how sure are you going to be about God’s love, if life changes for you as it did for Job, and each day begins to taste bitter to you? What if all those things you’ve pointed to for assurance of God’s love are taken from you? We need to go the cross to be assured of God’s ongoing love for us, because if we go anywhere else, we’ve gone to the wrong place and we’re setting ourselves up for doubt and disillusionment. God has proven His love for me in that He did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all. 3
Readers of the Bible will naturally think of Genesis 22, when God tells Abraham – “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you” (v 2). Abraham obeys God, and early the next morning, father and son make that awful journey together. Isaac is confused, but he trusts his father. Abraham is horrified, but he trusts the Heavenly Father. So Abraham binds his only son with ropes, places him on the altar of sacrifice, lifts up his knife – And just then, God stops him, and says, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me” (v 12). God spared Abraham’s only son. But many hundreds of years later, it was on that same mountain, later named Mount Calvary, just outside the city of Jerusalem, where the life of God’s only Son was not spared, even though Jesus pleaded that it might be. In Gethsemane, He prayed – “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me” (Matt. 26:39). He’s saying, “Spare me, Father!” This prayer doesn’t show weakness on Jesus’ part; it shows His holiness. The cup He dreads is the cup of God’s wrath, in which the Father will turn His face away from the Son. From eternity they’ve enjoyed unbroken fellowship and Jesus longs for it to continue, to not be forsaken by the Father. The physical agony of the cross was nothing compared to the burden of bearing the sins of the world. The cross was going to be hell for Jesus. “Can we find some other way, Father, so that I might be spared this bitter cup?” If this were your son, wouldn’t you have spared Him? I would. That cup would have been removed instantaneously. One Son is all the Father had. Jesus was deeply loved, so much so, that this could have proven to be an insurmountable obstacle to our salvation. Could God, would God, hand Him over to be lied about and betrayed and abandoned and mocked and flogged and beaten and spit on and nailed to a cross and pierced with a sword like an animal being butchered? Would He really do that? God spared Isaac. And when I think that God, His Son not sparing, sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in. That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing, He bled and died, to take away my sin. Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee: How great Thou art, how great Thou art! He who did not spare His Son, gave Him up for us all. Other translations say, God delivered Him up, and this word is frequently used in the New Testament to describe Jesus’ death. In one place it says Judas delivered Him over; in other places Pilate delivered Him over, Herod and the Jewish people and the Gentiles delivered Him over. But ultimately, Paul is saying it was God who was behind it all. In Acts 2:23 Peter preached, “This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.” This was the Son in whom He delighted, yet the Father gave Him up for us all. The word “for” means in place of. Jesus died in my place, as my Substitute, literally God for me, crucified. Witness after witness claimed Jesus was innocent. He died for crimes that were not His. And the heart of the gospel message is that Jesus took my place and bore the consequences of my sin. This is why the Father did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up.
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When we look to the cross, it almost seems as though the Father loves us more than He loves His own Son. That cannot be, of course, but it looks like that. He loves us that much. And when this truth grips your heart, you begin to think with gospel logic. If God 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? How can I doubt that His love for me is unfailing? How can I imagine Him giving up on me? If God has gone to such great lengths to save me, surely He will take care of me to the very end. Dads, imagine taking your family to Disneyland. You purchase your tickets online for several hundred dollars. You spend even more on plane tickets. You fly to California, rent a car, check in to a hotel, and drive to Disneyland, only to learn that it costs $17 to park. So what do you say? “No way, I’m not going to pay $17 to park this car. Sorry, we’re going home!” What would your wife say? “Honey, what shall we say to these things? If we’ve already come this far, and we’ve already spent so much money, what’s another $17?” Can’t God say the same thing to you? “If I didn’t spare my Son, do you think I’m going to get stingy all of a sudden in the way I treat you? It cost my Son His life to provide your salvation – do you think I am going to stop providing for you now? I’ve already brought you this far, won’t you trust Me to graciously give you all things?” So what is meant here by “all things?” Perhaps it points back to v 17 and our status as co-heirs with Christ. There is a sense in which God will literally give us all things because eventually we inherit the world. All things are yours, Paul tells the Corinthians, because you are Christ’s and Christ is God’s (1 Corinthians 3:21-22). Everything God gives to Jesus He will give to us. Amazing generosity! But at the same time, “all things” in v 32 must surely be an echo of “all things” in v 28, where God is working all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. Again, this doesn’t guarantee material blessings or physical health and comfort right now. Remember, v 35 goes on to speak of tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, and sword. The good of v 28 is the Christ-likeness of v 29. That’s what God is after. And He’s promised to provide everything we need to be conformed to the likeness of His Son. Everything that happens in our lives is working for us in that sense. All things! Packer writes, The meaning of ‘He will give us all things’ can be put thus: one day we shall see that nothing – literally nothing – which could have increased our eternal happiness has been denied us, and nothing – literally nothing – that could have reduced that happiness has been left with us. What higher assurance do we want than that? That’s very similar to John Newton’s application of Romans 8:28. Remember? Everything is needful that He sends; nothing can be needful that He withholds. And when you are tempted to doubt these things, be sure you go to the right place. Don’t say, “But it feels like God is withholding what I need and sending what I don’t need. I feel like God is letting me down. All the blessings are gone from my life. Just look at the difficulties I’m facing!” Paul would say, “You’re looking in the wrong place. Don’t go there. Go instead to Calvary. Because there’s nowhere else to go if you need absolute assurance that God is for you, and that He will be gracious to you forever. If God was unsparing of His Son, won’t you trust Him to be unsparingly generous to you in all things? 5