When God Is For Us | Christian Resilience Building – [Romans 8:31–33]

Can Evil Really Win

0:03 Is it really true that evil can never ultimately prevail against a person whom God has chosen? Romans 8:31 to 33 takes us to one of the greatest mountaintops in all of Scripture. Paul declares that if God is for his people, who can successfully stand against them? He assures us that the God who did not spare his own son Jesus will also graciously give us all things along with him. God himself has chosen and justified his people, so no accusation can ever overturn his verdict. These verses reveal the extraordinary security that belongs to every believer in Christ.

0:57 Stay with me as we explore the unshakable position God has given his people and discover why believers will always be led to victory in Christ.

If God Is For Us

1:10 Paul begins by asking one of the most triumphant questions in all of Scripture. In Romans 8 31, the Apostle Paul declares, What then shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? The effect of this realization is the removal of fear. There will still be opposition. The law is still in existence. The sin nature and the flesh nature are actively present. What Paul is saying here is if God is for us, what difference do any of these make? For anyone to rob us of salvation, they would have to overcome God Himself, and that can never happen.

Chrysostom Stares Down Threats

2:01 The early church father Christotom, then the Archbishop of Constantinople, eloquently articulated this truth when he was brought before the Emperor of Rome in 403 AD. Emperor Arcadius threatened him with banishment if he remained a Christian. Christophom replied, Thou canst not banish me, for this world is my father's house. But I will slay thee, said the Emperor. Nay thou canst not, said the noble champion of the fate, for my life is hid with Christ in God. I will take away thy treasures. Nay but thou canst not, for my treasure is in heaven, and my heart is there.

2:47 But I will drive thee away from man, and thou shalt have no friend left. Nay thou canst not, for I have a friend in heaven from whom thou canst not separate me. I defy thee, for there is nothing that thou canst do to hurt me. Yet even today, as Christians, it may seem that we are standing alone against others who do not know God. It may even seem as if Satan is winning. We may be unemployed, terminally ill, have a disabled child, or care for a loved one with Alzheimer's. God hasn't promised to keep us from such problems.

3:30 But whatever our circumstances may be, we can be confident that God is on our side.

When Loss Turns Into Provision

3:38 Take, for example, Klaus Dieter John, who was working as a medical missionary in Peru in 2005. He was raising funds to build a hospital to provide free or low-cost health care to the impoverished indigenous Quechua people of southern Peru. On returning from a trip to Germany, his projector was confiscated at Customs, closed the Eterjan journey to buy a replacement, and asked to try out the projector using his fundraising presentation. The president of IMSAT, a telecommunications company, was present.

4:22 As a result, IMSAT donated a satellite dish and installed it free of charge at the construction site. This equipment solved the communication issues of being experienced as it supported international phone calls and efficient internet connectivity. The apparent evil loss of the projector led to the victorious acquisition of telecommunications capabilities. The stories told of Pastor Gumarcindo, who rode a donkey as he traveled from village to village in Brazil and preached the gospel. The traveling evangelist fell asleep in the saddle on his return home after a tiring day.

5:10 A couple of hours later, he was rudely awakened by the roughness of the ride. His donkey had left the trail and was walking through a rocky field. At first, the pastor was angry, but he calmed them when he saw that they were almost back to his village. When he arrived at his church, he learned that friends had gathered to pray for his safety. A rancher who hated the gospel had sent some men to attack him at a bend in the trail. They thank God for causing the donkey to take a shortcut home. What if God wants us to fully internalize the truth that evil can never prevail against the person God has chosen?

God Gave His Son

5:57 Do we know that God really is for us? Paul answers that question powerfully in Romans 8 32. God is certainly for us, or he would not have given his well-beloved son as the substitutionary sacrifice for man. It follows therefore that the voice of prayer will always secure God's help. David adamantly declared in Psalms 56 9, When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back. In Romans 8 32, Paul affirms that he who did not spear his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

6:50 The Greek word that is used here for spear is used only one other place, and that is in the Greek translation of the Old Testament in Genesis 22. We are told that Abraham took his son Isaac to Mount Moriah to be offered as a sacrifice to the Lord. This is also where Galgata, Calvary, where Jesus was crucified, was located, just outside the ancient city walls of Jerusalem. God said, Abraham, lay not your hand upon the lad, neither do anything unto him, for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me.

7:38 The word withheld is the same word translated spirit here in Romans. Abraham was ready to sacrifice the wanting in his life that mattered most. Whatever means the most to us, spouse, kids, house, car, job, future, our relationship with our Father must take precedence. If there was ever a person who had room to complain of injustice, it was Jesus. He was the only innocent man to be punished by God. God loves mankind with an everlasting love and wants to bring us to be with him forever. However, God is absolutely holy, and in order for us to be with him, he had to deal with the issue of holiness.

8:28 So he sent his holy son and let him suffer the penalty of sin for everyone. Then he gave those who trusted in his son the full benefits of righteousness. He gave us the holiness of his son. As a result, when we stand before God in Jesus' holiness, he looks at us and sees the righteous clothing of his flawless son. He is then able to receive us into his presence.

Grace With No Strings Attached

9:00 During the American Civil War, a farmer in New York was drafted for the Union Army. His wife had died, and he was the sole support of his young children. An unmarried man in the town who had no dependents came to his home and offered to go to war in his place. For the sake of his children, the farmer accepted the offer. The generous friend marched off to battle, and in the first engagement, he was shot and killed. When the farmer heard what had happened, he went to the scene of the battle and brought back the body.

9:40 He buried his friend in the village churchyard and had these words engraved on the headstone, he died for me. This same selfless love is seen in the language Paul uses. The Greek word paradidomi that is used here for delivered is used in legal parlance to describe handing someone into the custody of the police, authorities, etc., to be judged, condemned, punished, scourged, tormented, put to death. The death of Christ is a debt altogether for others that was endured solely because of selfless affection for the fallen.

10:25 By it, Jesus has procured our pardon. We who have believed in Him are forgiven. Jesus has obtained our adoption. We are sons of God in Christ Jesus. He has shut the gates of hell for us. We cannot perish, nor can any pluck us out of his hands. Jesus has opened the gates of heaven for us. We shall be with him where he is. Are we aware that Jesus died for us? God, who so freely gave the choicest thing that he had to give when we were yet helpless, ungodly, sinners and enemies of God, now that we are his friends, will not hold anything back from us.

11:16 The Greek word charizome that is translated here as freely give means to show grace by providing undeserved help to someone unworthy. Furthermore, charizome donates a gift that is given out of the spontaneous generosity of the giver's heart with no strings attached. God's unlimited forgiveness makes it impossible for a believer to sin himself out of God's grace. God has already given us the best, the greatest, the dearest, the most precious thing He has. He did so while we were sinners, while we were enemies, while we were helpless.

12:04 Will He not also give us any lesser thing that we may need? The story is told of a poor European family who saved for years to buy tickets of sale to America.

The Ticket Includes The Meal

12:17 Once at sea, they carefully rationed the cheese and bread they had brought for the journey. After three days the boy complained to his father, I hate cheese sandwiches. If I don't eat anything else before we get to America, I'm going to die. Giving the boy his last nickel, the father told him to go to the ship's galley and buy an ice cream cone. When the boy returned a long time later with a wide smile, his worried dad asked, Where were you? In the galley, eating three ice cream cones and a steak dinner.

12:56 All that for a nickel? Oh no. The food is free, the boy replied. It comes with the ticket. Our salvation includes more than pardon from sin, deliverance from hell, and a ticket to heaven. It includes all that we shall need on our journey. Sin has been dealt with in the Son, but Jesus is not only our Savior, He's our sustenance and supply. We have only to ask God for whatever we need. Frank Asbury spent his life believing that God would provide him with all things. In the early 1770s, when Frank first came to America, he did not have a horse with which to ride his circuit.

13:45 So he initially set out by stagecoach. As he traveled, he stayed with Christian families along the way. His horse would often ferry him to the next town or village in their wagon or sleigh, or would loan him a horse. In this manner, Frank traveled throughout the settlements of southern New York, preaching and teaching to anyone who would listen. Fortuitously, several of the New York Methodists were touched by his determination to reach others with the gospel and took up an orphan to buy him a horse and saddle.

14:24 He was then able to intentionally pursue the business of being a circuit rider. What if God is waiting for us to step out by fate so that he can lovingly supply our needs?

No Charge Sticks In Court

14:38 In Acts 22, we are told that the Roman commander, Claudius Lysias, had ordered Paul to be tied up and interrogated by whipping. When Paul revealed he was a Roman citizen, the soldiers immediately backed away. The commander grew fearful because he had illegally bound a citizen without a trial. Just as there were special safeguards for Roman citizens in that day, being a believer in Christ likewise provides us with unbreakable divine protection. Here in Romans 8.33, Paul asserts, who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?

15:25 It is God who justifies. Satan is identified as the accuser of God's people in both the Old and New Testaments. He charges the chosen of God with sin. In a sense, his accusations are valid because they are based on the believer's sinfulness and defilement. However, the judge God himself declares the accused righteous on the basis of their faith in Jesus Christ. As a result, the adversary's accusations against us are dismissed, thrown out of court. No accusation brought against God's people will ever survive God's courtroom because the judge himself has already declared them righteous.

Jesus Finished The Work

16:15 The tabernacle of Israel in the wilderness was ornamented with gold worth approximately two million dollars today. However, there were no chairs at the tabernacle, nor in the temple which was later built in Jerusalem. The reason that the priests who practiced the ancient liturgy could never sit down was that their work was never done. However, when Jesus Christ finished his work on the cross as God's high priest, he arose from the dead and ascended into heaven, where he sat down at the right hand of God.

16:57 The priestly work of Christ in dying for us on the cross was finished forever at the moment he bowed his head and yielded his spirit back to the Father. Every sin of the chosen believers was laid upon the great champion of our salvation, Jesus. When the guilt of sin was taken away, the punishment of sin was eliminated. With the sinner tried Christ, God declares him righteous, and that declaration will never be repealed. An outstanding example of this justification, Saul of Torsus, who formed at the mouth against God's servants.

17:42 Saul attacked and imprisoned believers with ferocity and passion. God struck him down on the road to Damascus, changed his heart, and justified him. This former antagonist of the believers became the greatest preacher of justification by faith who ever lived, the Apostle Paul. Are we aware that as believers we have been made righteous in Christ? Jackie Pelinger proved that no one can accuse those who God justifies while working among drug addicts in Hong Kong's walled city in the 1970s. Akit had come off drugs and was with a Christian family when he decided to leave their home.

18:31 All the Christians prayed that he would wind up in a place where he could not resume his prior lifestyle of drugs and crime and that he would return to Jesus. This prayer was answered impressively. Akit was arrested and put behind bars. While there, he genuinely repented. As he waited for his case to come to court, he began to pray and talk to his cellmates about Christ. Akit was charged with armed robbery. At the trial, the judge commented that Akit had an appalling record and well deserved a long sentence.

19:15 However, he heard the missionary's account of Akit's change of heart. After taking into consideration the missionaries' willingness to care for him, the judge released Akit into their care for 18 months. The judge's clerk, the court officers, and the prison officers looked aghast. The judge had actually done the impossible in legal terms by releasing a man who had been arrested on such a charge. The Christians knew differently as two rows of believers were sitting in court praying. On their way out of the courtroom, the Christians overheard the prison wardens asking one another whether it was more powerful to have God than a lawyer.

20:05 Let us reflect on the truth that believers are justified in Christ, and God does not accept any accusations against us as a result.

The Security Of The Chosen

20:16 As we analyze Romans 8:31 to 33, the answer to our initial question as to whether it is really true that evil can never ultimately prevail against the person whom God has chosen became clear. Paul adamantly declares that if God is for his people, who can successfully stand against them? He assures us that the God who did not spear his own son Jesus will also graciously give us all things along with him. God himself has chosen and justified his people, so no accusation can ever overturn his verdict.

21:03 Whatever opposition we face, whatever accusations are made against us, whatever suffering may come, believers can rest in this unchanging truth. If God is for us, nothing can ultimately defeat those whom He has chosen in Christ.

Subscribe And Pray With Me

21:24 Before you go, if this message spoke to you, like this podcast and subscribe so you don't miss what God is doing here at Catch on Fire Podcasts. If you're ready for real change, take a moment right now to pray with me. Jesus, I give you my life, lead me, forgive me, and make me new. If you pray that, welcome to the family. Follow along, stay connected, and let's walk this walk together. Join me.

Confessions Of Life And Victory

22:00 As we confess words of life over all of our lives, we declare and decree in the name of Jesus that we are still holding on to God's unchanging hand. We are still in God's holy plan. We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that we are living holy lives as God requires. We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that we are feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger, giving clothes to those in need, ministering to the sick and visiting those in prison, and we are doing so to the least of those among us, as when we do so we are ministering to Jesus.

22:46 We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that we have received healing, as by his stripes we are healed. From the crown of our head to the soles of our feet, all of our bodily organs are working correctly. We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that God is ordering our steps, that all weapons that are formed against us have been utterly and completely destroyed, and every tongue that is rising against us in judgment is condemned. We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that all generational curses are cancelled.

23:21 Anything that runs in our ancestral bloodline that is not of God has no power over us, our children and our grandchildren, and is eliminated forever right now. We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that angels are watching over and keeping our family, our children, our grandchildren, our loved ones safe. We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that every negative word that has been and is being spoken over our lives and that of our family, children, grandchildren, and loved ones is cancelled and sent back to the pit from whence it came.

24:03 We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that we are the head and not the tail. We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that we are not and will never be ashamed. Our enemies have not and never will triumph over us. We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that anything that is not of God, that has been dispatched to hinder our blessings, our progress, and our well-being is immediately destroyed. We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that we are financially in line with God's word, and as such we are lenders and not borrowers.

24:39 As a result, all of our debts have been paid and are forgiven. We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that the enemy of our souls has no authority over our finances and our funds, and that we are good stewards of the money that God has placed in our keeping. We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that in the area of business and our carriers, that just as Isaac reaped a hundredfold, the blessings of Abraham are falling on us, and we are reaping a hundredfold from whatever we put our hands to.

25:15 We declare and decree in the name of Jesus that we are living under an open heaven in every area of our lives. Blessings are falling on us, our family and our loved ones. These blessings are being manifested in our lives, in the spiritual and in the physical.

Psalm 23 And Final Blessing

25:33 Let's repeat the 23rd Psalm together. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea do I walk to the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runeth over.

26:15 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace. Amen.