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Today we're back in the great eight. Romans chapter 8. This is another message for the believer in Christ. If you're not a believer in Jesus Christ, do what you can to glean from this, but understand it's not written for you. This is for the authentic Christian.
I could have named this message "hard cheese" or "the bummer train" because some of what I'm going to share, although stone cold truth, it's not rainbows. You follow? It's not sunshine. It's reality of what it means to be an authentic Christian. And all authentic Christians are more than conquerors.
Our focus text is Romans 8:37-39. This is the crux. This is the showstopping number. This is what Romans chapter 8, the whole series leads up to because this is what we need to grab on to and hold on to as we go forward in this modern time.
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depths, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Life's Inexperienced Pilot
Before there was drone footage, you would need to get a small plane or a solid helicopter in order to get good aerial shots. That's just reality. And the story goes that there was a photographer for a national magazine assigned to get photos of a great forest fire. The smoke at the scene hampered him and he asked his home office to hire a plane. Arrangements were made and he was told to go at once to a nearby airport where a plane would be waiting.
When he arrived at the airport, he saw a plane warming up near the runway. He jumped in with his equipment and said, "Let's go. Let's go." The pilot swung the plane into the wind and soon they were in the air. The photographer said, "Listen, I want you to fly over the north side of the fire and I want you to make three or four low-level passes."
The pilot asked, "Why?"
"Because I'm going to take pictures. I'm a photographer and photographers take pictures."
After a slight pause, the pilot said, "You mean you're not the instructor?"
That is exactly how life appears at times. It seems that whoever may be flying the plane doesn't know where he's going or what he's doing. But that's just how things appear to us from our vantage point. It seems that our lives get into more messes than we can figure out. But again, that's just how things appear.
According to the Bible, the children of God are perpetually victorious people. Now, we can't always see it. We don't always feel it. And we don't always live like it. But it's true nonetheless. The verses before us today have brought comfort and hope to the hearts of God's children for more than 2,000 years. They remind us that we are more than conquerors in spite of how things appear to us or in spite of how we may feel about our circumstances.
You may not feel like a conqueror today. You might feel like there's an inexperienced pilot at the yoke of your life. And regardless of how you feel, these verses and words of hope, peace, and encouragement are specifically designed for those of us who feel discouraged, defeated, overwhelmed by life.
The Reality of Our Conquest
Let's talk about the reality of our conquest. Nice to have some cool words here and there, but what is the reality of our conquest?
Paul uses the phrase "more than conquerors." This translates a word that only appears right here in the New Testament, nowhere else. It refers to those who gain a surpassing victory. It means to be completely victorious, to carry an overwhelming victory. It has the idea of us being super conquerors. That's what the Bible says we are.
But that is not how we feel most of the time, is it? Many believers I know seem to be overwhelmed by life at times. When Paul writes that we are super conquerors, he uses a tense that suggests present. It's an active situation. In other words, he is saying Christians keep on winning a glorious victory. He is saying that even when all of life is assembled against us, we are still super conquerors. Regardless of how things feel or look to us, we are still more than conquerors. That is the clear testimony of the word of God.
Let me give you two verses just to back it up:
2 Corinthians 2:14 says, "But thanks be to God who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere." That's going down despite how I might feel today or what my circumstances might be.
1 Corinthians 15:57 says, "But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
Our prayer should be that we would accept by faith the promise of God concerning the victory we have in Jesus. Our prayer should also be that God would help us to live out that victory every day in spite of how things look to us or how we feel about our circumstances.
It's crazy some days when we hear Paul say we are more than conquerors. And then he adds to it "in all these things." Most of us have an idea that victory occurs when we are living lives that are free from troubles, afflictions, and heartaches. Right? But Paul says reality is something different. We are super conquerors in spite of everything the world and the devil can throw at us.
What are these things Paul is referring to? Well, it can be found in verses 33-35 of Romans chapter 8. So, let's take a look at this list of problems. You'll see many of these things are just a common part of living:
"Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Jesus Christ 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. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?"
And here's the grocery list: "Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?"
Super Conquerors Despite Everything
We are super conquerors in spite of those who charge us. Look at verse 33. "Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?" It doesn't matter. We're super conquerors. We are victorious over all who would judge our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Because why? Because Jesus justified us, and nothing will ever change his mind.
What about those who condemn us in verse 34? Are we super conquerors in spite of those who condemn us? Absolutely. We are victorious over those who would declare we are unworthy to be of the Lord. Jesus Christ died for us on the cross, shed his blood to save us, and no one can undo what he did for me and for you on the cross. And then victory over death, hell, and the grave through the resurrection.
That means we're super conquerors in spite of those who attempt to separate us. In verse 35, it says that we're being tried to be separated. One translation of verse 35 says, to stagger us with their attacks. The world and the devil have always been and will forever be the enemies of the children of God. That's the hard cheese.
Listen, if you know Jesus and you are an authentic Christian and you've accepted his substitute and you've traded this world for the next, the attacks will be frequent and many times they will be severe. Yet, in spite of everything they throw in our direction, we are still victorious over all their efforts to defeat us and destroy us.
The Attacks God's Children Face
Look at the list of attacks the children of God face in this life. Let's just go through them:
Tribulation - What does that mean? That means to be squeezed or to feel pressure. This is common problems all people face. John 16:33 says, "I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have your best life." Now in the world every day will be a Friday. No, you will have tribulation, but take heart. I have overcome the world."
How about an Old Testament one? Job 14:1: "Man who was born of woman is few of days and full of trouble." I want to see that on a church t-shirt.
Distress - The next one is distress. It literally means a narrow place. It means to be hemmed in by one's circumstances. Have you ever felt hemmed in by your circumstances? I feel like, well, it must be Tuesday, you know? I mean, it's constant to be trapped with no way out in distress until we realize that we're free and we're more than conquerors. Right?
Persecution - Suffering inflicted on us because of our relationship with Jesus. You don't come to Jesus for a better life. God has a wonderful plan for your life. You want to know what that is biblically? That's persecution. How many people are coming?
Famine - A lack of necessary resources is what famine means. This is a natural byproduct of the persecution.
Nakedness - That's a lack of proper clothing. That's to be in a state of destitution. This is also a byproduct of persecution.
Danger - The threat of imminent and awful danger.
Sword - What's that? That's the threat of murder. That's what he's saying here. The cold, hard, death-dealing instrument that sent many believers out into eternity died by the sword.
Yet, I'm standing here telling you the stone cold truth that we are more than conquerors. How? It's not by avoiding these things, but by triumphing over them through Jesus Christ.
God's Purpose in Our Pain
Our pain and suffering is very real, but so is God's purpose. We must remember his plan for our lives and our plans for our lives is rarely the same plan. What's he doing? Here's what he's doing:
He's Refining Our Lives
Just as the goldsmith heats the ore to remove the impurities, God uses trials and afflictions of life to rid the imperfections, impurities of our flesh nature. 1 Peter 1:7 says, "So that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ."
He's Remaking Our Lives
When he finishes with us, we will be less like ourselves and more like his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. But this happens throughout a growth process. How many farmers are harvesting right now? None. Why? Because they're planting right now and then they are expecting a season of growth.
Listen to what it says in Ephesians 4:11-15:
"And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry for building up the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes. Rather speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up into every way into him who is the head, into Christ."
Are you growing up in every way?
He's Realigning Our Lives
God is working in us to bring us to a place where life ceases to be about us and all about him and his will—then for us to do what? To bring him glory. And the process is very painful at times but it is very necessary if he is to be glorified through what we do.
We must remember that God will get more glory from our lives when we are being purified than he will when we are allowed to live lives of ease. When we're just living this total life of ease, it's hard to bring God glory. That truth can be seen in Job. That truth can be seen in all of us as well. There is evidence everywhere. And the opposition to this concept is everywhere.
What do I mean by that? Well, the goal of the work week is Friday night. The goal of life is to make it so you can kick back and do nothing. God's plan is vastly different from what the world, the flesh, and the devil try to sell us.
Called to Be Active, Not Sedentary
When God's purpose and glory develops in your life, activity becomes the desire, not sedentary. Yes. Yes. Yes. There is a need for rest and margin in life. Definitely a need. But there's also a get-up-and-go mentality that develops in the maturing Christian.
Show me a Christian who never wants to serve in any capacity for the Lord in the church or around and I'll show you a baby Christian at best and a false convert at worst. Why? Because those of us saved by Jesus, we need to be involved in something. That's where community and fellowship amongst other believers becomes critical. We need to be active.
Look, laying on the beach for the rest of life sounds boring and lame and sad to those of us who love being fully alive in Jesus. Let me tell you, I'll go head-to-head with any of you in this room and any of you reading this. I love laying on the beach more than you do. I do. I love the beach. I just can't wait. And we used to take these six night, seven day vacations. And by about the fourth day, I'm like, well, I kind of done the laying on the beach thing. What do you want to do? You know, let's do something. You follow? It's like we need to be active when we are surrendered to Jesus. We just do. We find joy in doing stuff.
That's what I love about being at Fresh Encounter Church because there are so many people here that I see the joy in their face as they're serving, as they're serving food, as they're building additions, as they're redoing bathrooms. It's just awesome when you see God's children getting after it with joy in their heart. Not out of obligation, but out of a calling of just wanting to be fully alive in Christ.
And know this, this deal comes with stuff we can do without. It comes with stuff we can do without. Stuff we are spoiled American. Everything is 72 and snacky mentality. We don't want to experience real reality. Okay. Comfortable is better than uncomfortable. Yes. Duh. The flesh nature will tell us that comfortable is your goal.
Paul's Thorn in the Flesh
Let's look at what Paul says. This is the apostle Paul. What he says in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. This is his best life now. This is his payoff for serving Jesus with abandoned fully faithful face set like flint. "I'm going to serve Jesus." And this is what Paul got. He gets these incredible revelations. So what happens to him?
"So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh. A messenger of Satan to harass me to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this that it should leave me. But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities."
Why did he say that? Last line: "For when I am weak, then I am strong."
Think about it now. When do you pray more? When does the Bible mean the most to you? When are you more likely to seek the Lord with all of your heart where he may be found? The answer to all of these is quite simple and it's universal. We are more likely to do these things when the heat is on. That is just reality.
And that's why the Lord sends trials our way. Just as it takes time, heat, and pressure to transform coals into diamonds, it takes the same circumstances to transform us into what he determined us to be.
Do you want to be what God wants you to be, or do you want to be what you want to be? "I just want to follow my heart. My feelings matter. Everything's about me." Or do you say, "No, I'm a sinner who is so filthy. I can never stand in front of a holy God and I want his forgiveness. I want his redemption and when he gives me that blessing, I get this peace and I just want to now serve him regardless of what the circumstances are."
So you're saying to yourself, look, are you claiming victory in the midst of some harsh circumstances? Yeah. When you know the one who is above all else and he loves you and saved you regardless of what takes place here in this earthly life, it becomes more valuable than anything this earth can offer you.
Let me show you one of the sobering passages in the Bible that should be a plaque in your office. Luke 12:4-5 says this:
"I tell you my friends, do not fear those who kill the body and after that have nothing more they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear. Fear him who after he has killed has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him."
That's the God we serve. That's the God we claim. That's the God we're surrendered to. That's the reality.
The Reason for Our Conquest
Now stay with me and let's talk about the reasons for all of this. Second and last point today is the reason for our conquest.
Paul tells us that the only reason we are victorious in this life is "through him that loved us." Our victory does not lie within ourselves. Our victory rests in him alone.
Three quick things to consider today:
- Consider for a moment what you actually deserve.
- Then think for a moment about the nature of his love for us.
- And then stop and think about what he did to prove his love for us.
What We Actually Deserve
First, let's consider for a moment what we deserve. How about one tight sentence out of Romans 6:23 that says everything in one sentence? "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
How about an Old Testament verse? Ezekiel 18:4 says, "Behold, all souls are mine. The soul of the Father as well as the soul of the Son is mine. The soul who sins shall die."
The Nature of His Love
Now, just for a second, think for a moment about the nature of his love for us—how much he actually loves us. I could go through about 15 verses just boom boom boom boom boom, but I'm just going to show you one because it's been around Fresh Encounter in leadership and stuff. And so, I just want to show you just one verse about the nature of God's love for us. And it's in Jeremiah 33:3. The Lord says, "Call to me and I'll answer you and I will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known."
What He Did to Prove His Love
Now, stop and think what he did to prove his love for us. Everybody wants to talk about John 3:16. I always say, don't forget 17. John 3:16 and 17 together. It says this:
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."
Romans 5:8 says, "But God shows his love for us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
The love of God for his children is so vast, so deep, so far-reaching that God wants us to know that nothing can come and separate us from his great love for us. Verses 38 and 39 of our text today—that's a commentary on the depth, breadth, height, length of God's love for his children. Paul tells us that none of the things mentioned in the verses can separate us from the love of God.
The word "separate" means to divide, to put us under, to divorce, to put away. The word "able" in verse 38 means to have power. In other words, none of the things people fear so much has any power to divide us from his awesome love.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. In the words of the great theologian MC Hammer, "can't touch this." Once he has you in his grip, he has you forever.
When we go through those things, we need to be assured in our hearts that even the pains, sorrows, and afflictions of life are evidence of God's love for us. When we're going through sorrowful and painful things, sometimes it's like, "God, why are you sending this affliction? Don't you love me?" Can you get your head and your heart around that even your pain, sorrows, and afflictions of life are evidence of God's love for you? Can you get your heart and your head around that?
The reason I ask is that false messaging is pounding on the souls of men and women and deceiving many. See, in our false conversion society, our consumer customer-driven church has now promoted God's love into something without wrath and without justice, while at the same time reducing God to our buddy. He's our pal. He gets us—so lame and so out of touch with the real love and the real wrath of our creator God who loves us so much he is willing to protect us with his own life.
By the way, who is God protecting us from? You ever stop and think about it? God is protecting us from himself. Satan's a defeated foe. If you resist him, he must flee from you. But the justifiable wrath of God over your life and my life is what we need protection from.
I just read you Luke 12:4 and 5. Right? So the deal becomes if we are truly his then some bad things happen. Now, that doesn't sell. The message doesn't work with the selfish fakers that dominate our consumer church culture, claiming a false Christ, a made-up Jesus, all so they can still sit on the thrones of their own lives.
That's the fact, Jack. I'm off track.
The Bible shows us this is not going to be an easy path to walk. "Narrow is the way, hard is the way." It says, "Broad is the road and easy is the road that leads to destruction."
Paul's Trials
What does that mean? Paul knew. Paul knew his trials and torments in life. Compare your trials and my trials. Let's compare them to what the Apostle Paul went through. And this is long after he's been serving Jesus with abandon. This is not two weeks after the Damascus road experience. This is Paul having been there, done that, got the t-shirt. This is what he claims. This is what he said was his big payoff on this earthly life for serving Jesus. 2 Corinthians 11:24-28:
"Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the 40 lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I was adrift at sea. On frequent journeys in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, dangers from my own people, dangers from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers, in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And apart from other things, apart from those things, there's the daily pressure on me of the anxiety for all the churches."
Yet in verse 38, he says he is sure. Other translations say he is persuaded. That phrase is in the perfect tense. It means Paul stands convinced and nothing can change his mind about the matter. We are super conquerors. He knows that God knows what he is doing and that the saints can count on the boundless eternal love of Jesus Christ to see them through whatever they may face in this life.
That was Paul's prayer for the Ephesians believers and I think we do well to review it today because it's God's will for us. I believe. Let's look at it. It's in Ephesians 3:14-19. In 14 he starts his prayer:
"For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory, he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner being. So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, the length, the height, and the depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."
Victory is Already Ours
So we are more than conquerors, but we don't have to do anything to ensure our victory. Victory is ours because the Lord loves us and promises us that his love is a guarantee of our conquest of all the things that come against us. It means we grow and learn so that in God we daily rejoice in who we are in him regardless of what's going on. And all of this is for God's glory and our eternal benefit.
Many of the promises of God in the word of God are for the other side. It's for all of eternity. Look, can blessings of various earthly things come our way when we serve the Lord? Of course. Is that how we're then supposed to judge the favor of God? Absolutely not. Absolutely not.
We savor the one big blessing of God in the confidence that we are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus. The assurance of a secure eternity. And what does that do? It makes all well with you.
Are you convinced? If you are saved, you are more than a conqueror. I don't always feel like it's true. I don't always live like it's true, but the Bible tells me that it's true. I'm interested in that truth becoming a reality in our lives. It can, but we must take God at his word and learn to trust him by faith. Even when nothing happening to us seems to back it up, in the end, victory comes down to faith, right?
Either I believe what the Bible says or I believe what my eyes see, my mind thinks or what others say. That's why I call the Bible our final authority. Let me tell you that again. Either we believe what the Bible says or we believe what we see today, maybe see something different tomorrow, what my mind thinks today, what my mind thinks tomorrow, my feelings or what others are saying.
What Should We Do?
So my fellow super conquerors, what should we do with this information?
I think we should seek the Lord's face and ask him for that strength, courage, and unity to live like super conquerors. Even when we don't like what is happening or how things are going down, super conquerors, that's what we are.
I think we should seek his help to live in that victory even when we feel defeated. I think we should just take God at his word and then leave the details to him.
Once again, we can pray the same words as St. Augustine:
"You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you."
And when you are rested in Jesus Christ, you are a super conqueror, and your circumstances will never dictate your eternal joy. Will we have frustrations? Yes, absolutely. When I'm really frustrated, I love that brothers and sisters will come alongside and encourage me. And we want to do the same for you. That's what unity of the body of Christ is for.
But never let your circumstances take you to a place where you think that the hand of God is against you. He's got you. You're in good company if you're suffering tremendously because the Apostle Paul was suffering. But in that we are more than conquerors. So let's just take him at his word and leave the details up to him.