God Is For Us

GOD IS FOR US

Romans  8:28 - 39

Introduction:

In slightly less than four months, this nation will hold a presidential election.  I’m pretty certain that if it weren’t for COVID, most of us would be overwhelmed by politics right about now.   The campaigns are struggling this time, as is most everything else. One contender is trying to campaign online while another has been trying to hold the big rallies, and facing criticism for so doing.  Then there’s the question of HOW to vote in a time of virus.

All of those issues may be important, but not to the subject at hand today.  There is another election of which I wish to speak today.  Because I am here this morning to tell you that  - in this election -  God voted for you.

Imagine if you awake one election morning to a newspaper headline -- a box, with a check mark in it and your name beside it, then the word “elected.”  No I don’t mean the presidential election, where the popular saying is “anyone can be president” but the truth is very few actually make it.  In this election everyone on earth is a nominee, and everyone who accepts the vote that counts is elected.   God has cast a vote for each one of us, Jesus, his Son, is the form of the vote.  If we trust Him to save us, and honor His loving Lordship, we are promised victory.   Called!  Elected!

Rom. 8:28 - 39   [READ TEXT]

How safe do you feel in Christ?  How sure are you in different circumstances of life?  How sure are you of your salvation?  While I hesitate to give false assurances to anyone of those who are outside Christ-- God’s promise does not cover unbelievers -- understand today that God’s word to us can entirely change our perspective!   People of God understand that we are living in the end times.  Yet far too many of God’s people are bogged down in worry.  Worry about both physical and spiritual things.  What is it that troubles you today…?  We need to hear God’s Word.   We need to get beyond worry and get to the Word.

1. First -- A Word of assurance.  (vv. 28 - 31)
1. God is for us.
1. That is what really matters.
1. The Creator is on your side -- with all the power of creation
2. The Judge is on your side -- with all of justice behind Him
3. The Father is on your side  -- with all of His love towards you
2. So who is against us that really matters?
1. Satan  --  he’s our adversary, but we have a stronger friend
2. World --  they may mock and reject us, but all of heaven has accepted us
3. Church  --  at times it may seem like the church is against us, but the Lord of the church is not.
4. Ourselves  --  how can we refuse to love ourselves if God loves us.  Are we better than Him?
2. His love is as great as He is.
1. It is His love that started this whole thing  
1. Look at God’s actions towards those who love Him (vv. 28 - 30)
1. God works
2. God knew
3. God predestined
4. God called
5. God justified
6. God glorified
2. We love because he first loved us.    (1John 4:19)  
   
2. It is His love that will see us through
1. God began a good work in you, and won’t stop before it is complete.   (Philippians 1:6)
2. Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.”   (John 5:17)
3. If He justifies us, who will have any success in charging us?
1. There is one who got his name from accusing us.
1. In Hebrew SATAN means “accuser.”
2. DEVIL - from Greek , DIABOLOS, meaning “accuser.” 
3. In Rev. 12:10 he is charged as such.
1. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.   
2. (See also  Job 1:9-11 and  Zec 3:1 [where he accuses Joshua the high priest] )
2. He may be biting at the heal, but my God’s gonna crush his head.
1. [Of Christ]  he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”    (Gen. 3:15)
2. We are told to resist him and that he will flee. (James 4:7)

II. Second -- A Word of reminder  (vv.  33 - 34)
Each element is the Good News that affirms our assurance.

1. Christ died and was buried, dragging sin under with Him
1. If Christ died for your sins, they are buried and gone.
2. Stop dragging them back up!
2. Jesus has been raised,  overcoming death
1. Praise be to God we don’t worship a dead savior!
2. Christ conquered death, hell and the grave.
1. Col. 2:15   And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
2. 1Cor. 15:26   The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
3. 2Tim. 1:10   but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
3. Jesus is ascended, to be our ready friend and representative.
1. Acts 2:32 -33  God has raised this Jesus to life, and ...Exalted [him] to the right hand of God
2. Eph. 1:20   which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 
3. Col. 3:1   Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 
4. Hebr. 1:3   The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
5. Hebr. 7:25   Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

III. Third -- A Word of encouragement  (vv. 35 - 39)

1. Weigh it out  --  All the trouble of this world  vs.  God and His love
1. Which is greater?
2. Make a list -- what can separate us from His love?
1. Which of those things is more powerful than God’s love?
3. Illustration —  In 1858, a man named John Gray was buried in old Greyfriars Churchyard, Edinburgh, Scotland. His grave leveled by the hand of time, and unmarked by any stone, became scarcely discernible; but, although no human interest seemed to attach to it.
   The sacred spot was not wholly disregarded and forgotten. For fourteen years the dead man’s faithful dog kept constant watch and guard over the grave until his own death in 1872. James Brown, the old curator of the burial ground, remembers Gray’s funeral, and the dog, a Skye terrier called "Bobby", was, he says, one of the most conspicuous of the mourners. The grave was closed in as usual, and next morning "Bobby", was found, lying on the newly-made mound.
   This was an innovation which old James could not permit, for there was an order at the gate stating in the most intelligible characters that dogs were not admitted. "Bobby" was accordingly driven out; but next morning he was there again, and for the second time was discharged. The third morning was cold and wet, and when the old man saw the faithful animal, in spite of all chastisement, still lying shivering on the grave, he took pity on him, and gave him some food. This recognition of his devotion gave "Bobby" the right to make the churchyard his home; and from that time until his own death he never spent a night away from his master’s tomb.
   Often in bad weather attempts were made to keep him within doors, but by dismal howls he succeeded in making it known that this interference was not agreeable to him, and he was always allowed to have his way. At almost any time during the day he could be seen in or about the churchyard, and no matter how rough the night, nothing could induce him to forsake that hallowed spot, whose identity he so faithfully preserved.

1. So,  what place does worry have in the life of a Christian?  None at all.
2. Our worries fall into three categories, according to a case study done by some physicians, who determined that it was the number one cause of illness.  Forty percent of our worries are about the past.  Fifty percent are about the future.  Only ten percent are about the present.
3. Ninety percent of your worries that relate to the future will not happen.
4. About the past, remember Paul saying, “Forgetting what is behind...”  (Phil. 3:13)
5. In the present remember,  “God is for us.”
6. Illustration — Keith Hartsell of Wheaton, Illinois, was driving around with a friend of his in California, when he discovered that his friend's cell phone was locked with an unusual password -- pro nobis. Keith asked him what pro nobis meant and why he chose that for a password. Keith's friend told him it was Latin and it meant "For Us," and then he suddenly started choking up. Keith thought, "Why would those two Latin words cause so much emotion?"
   Then his friend composed himself and explained that after walking through deep personal pain, true healing came when he learned that God is "for us" -- or the Latin phrase pro nobis. Keith's friend said that after his parents' divorce, he entered a season when he assumed that God didn't care or that God had given up on him. But he finally found hope through those two simple words -- pro nobis (for us). You see, when he decided to believe that God was pro nobis, that God had even sent Christ to die for him, he could then decide to lay down his life for others.
7. If God loves you, what are you worried about?  You’ve been chosen by God.  Elected in His love!
8. The problem is - I think — that some of us have difficulty accepting His love.