Romans
8: 18-39
I.
From Suffering to Glory: Read 18-25:
Paul has just been speaking of the glory of adoption into the family of God;
and then comes back to the troubled state of this present world. He draws a
great picture. He actually starts speaking like a poet. He sees all nature
waiting for the glory that shall be. But at the moment creation is in bondage,
death, and decay. The world is one where beauty fades and loveliness decays;
it’s a dying world. BUT it’s waiting for it’s liberation from all this and the
coming state of glory. When Paul was
painting this picture he was working with the ideas that any Jew would
understand. In Jewish thought it divided time into two sections: The Present
age and the Age to Come. The present age being wholly bad, subject to sin, and
death, and decay. Some day there would come The Day of the Lord. That would be
a day of judgment when the world would be shaken to its foundations; but out of
it there would come a NEW WORLD. It’s the picture of the renovated world. Example
(Fixer Upper Demo Day/New Creation). Isaiah 65:17 Behold I create a new heavens
and new earth. There was a time between the testaments when the Jews were
oppressed, enslaved, and persecuted, and they had great dreams of the renovated
world. Then Paul has some specific insight into God’s created world. Man had
sinned deliberately; but it was involuntary that nature was subjected to sin.
Gen. 3:17 “Cursed is the ground because of you,” So with Paul’s poet eye he
sees nature waiting for freedom from the death and decay that man’s sin brought
onto the world. Now if that’s true of nature. It’s truer of man. In the
experience of being saved and baptized in the Holy Spirit we get just a taste.
Kind of like a first installment of the glory that’s to come. Now we’re longing
for the FULL realization of what adoption into the family of God means. That
final adoption will be the redemption of our bodies. In our final state of
glory, Paul did not think we’d be just spirits floating around in the
atmosphere. In God’s New Creation, We’ll get a new body that will no longer be
a victim of decay and used for sin. It will be a spiritual body fit for the
life of a spiritual man or woman. Then
comes the great saying, “We are saved by hope.” Paul was no pessimist. There
was quote by H.G Wells that read, “Man who began in a cave behind a windbreak,
will end in the disease soaked ruins of a slum.” Let’s just say that’s the
opposite of what Apostle Paul believed. Granted Paul saw man’s sin and the
state of the world. Don’t we see the sin of the world that surrounds us and the
state of our country and all the cares of this world surrounding not just
America but the state of the world. BUT Paul also saw God’s redeeming power;
and the end of it all for him was HOPE! Because of that Paul was not despairing
waiting for the ruin of the world. Life was an eager anticipation for the renovation and a recreation by the
glory and power of God(Fixer Upper folks waiting for their home). Paul’s life
was not a weary, defeated waiting. He lived his life with earnest anticipation
and expectation for a new heaven and new earth. Everyday we must battle with
our own evil human nature, and we must live in this dying sinful world.
Nevertheless, We do not live only in this world. We also live IN CHRIST! We not
only see the world; We look beyond it. We not only see the consequences of sin;
We see the power of God’s mercy and love. Therefore our lives should always be
marked always with hope and never despair. THE CHRISTIAN WAITS, NOT FOR DEATH,
BUT FOR LIFE.
II.
Rom 8:26-30: All is of God. The first
two verses from one of the most important passages on prayer in the whole New
Testament. Paul is saying because of our weakness, we do not know what we
should pray for, but the prayers that we should offer should be offered by the
Holy Spirit. C.H Dodd defines prayer this way, “Prayer is the divine in us
appealing to the divine above us.” There’s 2 reasons we can’t pray as we
should. 1) We can’t see the future. Since we can’t see a day, year, or minute
into the future the Holy Spirit could save us from praying for things which
could actually cause us harm. 2) In any given situation we don’t know what’s
best for us. We’re often in the position of a child who wants something which
would only be bound to hurt them, and God is often in the position of a loving
Father to refuse our request because He knows what is far better for us than we
do ourselves. Perfect prayer is simply, “Father, into thy hands I commit my
spirit. Not my will, but Thine be done.” Or the Lord’s Prayer. Paul then goes on to say “All things work
together for our good to those who love God, to those who are called according
to His purpose.” We don’t need to go back very far in our lives to realize this
is true. Look over your own life, and think of all that God has brought you out
of and worked for your better. I heard a quote a long time ago, and it’s this.
“Setbacks are Setups.” You may be experiencing a setback in your life right
now, but God is setting you up for something wonderful! It’s very important to
notice that the experience only comes to those who love God. If a man loves and
trusts and accepts God, if he is convinced that God is an all-wise and
all-loving Father, then he can humbly accept all that God sends to him. If a
man does not love and trust God, he may resent what happens to him and more
than likely fight against God. It is only the man who loves and trusts God that
all things work together for good, for to him they come from a Father who in
perfect wisdom, love, and power is working ever for the best on their behalf.
God is for us and not against us!!!
III.
Read V. 29-30: This is a very tricky
passage that has been very seriously misused. If we are to understand it we
must understand that Paul never meant it to be a statement or expression of
Theology or Philosophy; he meant it to be an expression of the Christian
experience. Let me explain what I mean. If we take it as philosophy and
theology and apply the standards of cold logic to it, it must mean that God
chose some and did not choose others. But that is not what it means. Now think
of your Christian experience. The more you think about it the more you realize
that you had nothing to do with it and all is of God. Jesus Christ came into
the world, he lived, went to the cross; and rose again. We did nothing to bring
that about; that is God’s work. We heard the story of God’s wonderful love. We
did not make the story; we only received the story. Love came alive in our
hearts, We were convicted of our sin, and we asked God to forgive us, and we
received salvation. We did not achieve that that’s all God. And knowing this
does not take freewill away. God knew Israel in the OT, but the day came when
Israel refused the destiny God meant her to have. The Holy Spirit’s guiding is
all our lives, but at the end of the day we can refuse it and take our own way.
It is the Christian’s experience that all is of God. That we did nothing and
God did everything. That’s what Paul mean’s here. He means that from the
beginning of time God marked us out for salvation; that in due time His call
came to us; but the pride of man’s heart can wreck God’s plan and the
disobedience of man’s will can refuse the call.
IV.
Rom 8:31-39: The Love which Nothing can
Separate us: In verse 32 there is a verse that stuck out to any Jew who knew
their OT. Paul says, “God for us did not spare His own Son; THAT’S THE FINAL
GUARANTEE that He loves us enough to supply us all our needs. The words Paul
uses are the very words God used when Abraham proved his loyalty by being
willing to sacrifice his son Isaac at God’s command. Paul seems to say, “Think
of the greatest human example in the world of a man’s loyalty to God; God’s
loyalty to you is like that. Just as Abraham was so loyal to God that he was
prepared to sacrifice Isaac; God is so loyal to men that He sacrificed His own
Son for us. Surely we can trust a loyalty like that for anything.
V.
V 33-35 There are two ways to take v.
33-35. 1) v. 33. It is God who justifies men-that is the statement. If that is true than who can possibly condemn
men? If man is justified by God, then he is saved from every condemnation. Our
belief is in a Christ who died and rose again, and is alive forevermore. If
that’s true is there anything in this or any other world that can separate us
from our Risen Lord? If we take the scripture that way two great truths are
laid down. 1) God has justified us; therefore no one can condemn us. 2) Christ
is risen; therefore nothing can ever separate us from him. The second way to
look at this passage is this. 2) God has justified us then who can condemn us?
The answer is the judge of all men Jesus Christ. He is the one who has the
right to condemn-BUT SO FAR FROM CONDEMNING HE IS! He is at the right hand of
God interceding for us, and therefore we are safe. He is not there to be the
prosecuting lawyer. He is there to be our advocate our defender! Paul see
Christ not as the judge but the lover of men’s souls.
VI.
V 35-39 He begins one of my favorite
parts of scriptures on how nothing can separate us from the love of God in our
Risen Savior. The disasters of this world don’t separate us from God they
actually bring us closer. In verses 38-39 Paul makes a list of terrible things.
Neither death nor life can separate us from Christ. If life we live with
Christ. In death we die with him and because we die with him, we will also rise
with him. Death, so far from being a separation, is really only a step into his
nearer presence; not the end, but the leading into God’s presence. For me to
live is Christ but to die is gain. Here is a picture to take away all loneliness
and fear. Paul is saying, “You can think of every terrifying thing that this
world, or any other world can produce. Not one of them is able to separate the
Christian from the love of which is in Jesus Christ, Lord of every terror and
Master of every world. Of what then shall we be afraid? Yet is all these things
we are more than Conquerors through Him who loved us. Hupernikao We’re super
victorious through Christ’s love.
