Deo Gloria
Sermon for August 13, 2023
Pastor Martin Bentz
Text: Romans 8:28-39
Theme: If God is For Us, Who Can be Against Us?
- God already has given up his own Son for us.
- God has justified us.
- The Judge himself is pleading our case.
- Nothing can separate us from the love of God.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have a genie on your side—you know, like the one in the movie Aladdin, someone who at the snap of his fingers could get you out of a sticky situation, someone who could make all of your dreams come true? I remember when I was little how I used to imagine what it would be like. Sometimes I didn’t even have to imagine. All I had to do was turn on the TV. Back then they had a show on TV entitled “I Dream of Genie.” Perhaps some of you remember it. I remember how I used to sit and dream about what I would wish for if I had three wishes. So many things came to mind: a new bike, a new baseball glove, snow days with no school for a whole week, ice cream and chocolate chip cookies every night for supper, that the Vikings would win the Super Bowl—which three do I choose? I even remember coming up with a solution to the three wish limitation: whenever I got down to my third wish, I would wish for three more wishes. That way I’d never run out. Yes, I had it all figured out. All I needed was a genie.
Well, friends, I hate to break it to you, but genies are not real. I know that may come as a shock for some of you, but don’t be too disappointed. Believe it or not, you and I have someone on our side who’s even greater than a genie. His name is God. Unlike a genie God is not at our command, standing ready to grant us three wishes. As ruler of the universe, God is in command. And yet because he loves us, because he is our dear Father and we are his dear children, God invites us to bring all our requests to him and promises to answer them. That doesn’t mean, though, that he’s always going to give us whatever we ask for. You see, as even Aladdin found out, what we wish for may not turn out to be what we really wanted. In fact, it may even be bad for us. God only wants what’s best for us. You see, he’s on our side.
The apostle Paul emphasizes this truth in his letter to the Christians in Rome. Let me remind you of what he said. (Read text.)
“If God is for us, who can be against us?” The answer to Paul’s question is, of course, no one. If God is for us, no one can be against us. They wouldn’t stand a chance.
And yet there is opposition, isn’t there? Rather stiff opposition. It comes from a person who has been opposing God almost since the beginning. His name is Satan. The word “Satan” means “enemy.” And that’s exactly what Satan is: God’s enemy, our enemy. Satan hates God with a passion. Satan hates you and me with a passion. In the Bible he is described as a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour, someone to kill and destroy. (1 Pt 5:8) Originally, Satan’s plan was to overthrow God and make himself king of the universe. Having failed at that, his objective now is to oppose God and his will at every turn and especially to try to deceive God’s people and destroy their faith, so that they might never enjoy what he himself lost, the joy and perfection of heaven.
And Satan has plenty of help. First, there are the demons, the angels who, like him, were cast out of heaven for their rebellion against God.
Secondly, there is the world, which by and large is under Satan’s influence and promotes his values: money, immoral sex, power, greed and selfishness.
Thirdly, there is our own sinful nature, which is hopelessly inclined toward evil. As God said all the way back in the book of Genesis, the inclination of the thoughts of people’s hearts is only evil all the time.(6:5) In other words, we’re surrounded. We’ve got enemies all around us, bullets coming from every direction, even from inside us. We’re out numbered. We’re out gunned. Our situation is as bad as that of the people in Eastern Ukraine fighting against the Russian army.
Does that mean, then, that we are doomed to lose? Oh yes, we might put up a valiant fight, perhaps even win a few battles, but nevertheless lose the war? Absolutely not! We’ve got God on our side. And if God is for us, who can be against us? To emphasize this fact Paul reminds us of four important truths in the verses that follow.
The first is that God has already given up his own Son for us. Look again at v. 32: “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” In other words, God would do anything for us. He already gave up his Son for us. He sent his Son into the world to live the life we should have lived, in obedience to his commands. He also sent his Son to die for us, to die the death we should have died on account of our sins. In doing so, he broke Satan’s power. He disarmed him and took away his ammo. He crushed Satan’s head, dealing him a fatal blow. He defanged that ferocious lion and clipped his claws. Satan’s fighting against God and against us, his people, is useless. It’s an exercise in futility. As we sing in that familiar Reformation hymn, “He can harm us none. He judged; the deed is done; one little word can fell him”(CW 863, v. 3).
Our Shepherd Jesus reassures us of that in John, ch. 10, where he says, “My sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand”(vv. 28+29). If God cares for us so much that he was willing to give up his own Son for us, in order to take care of our greatest need, our need for forgiveness, then wouldn’t he gladly help us with our other needs as well? Of course he would. He’s on our side. And if God is for us, who can be against us?
Secondly, Paul reminds us that God has justified us. Again he starts off with a question: “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies”(v. 33). Picture a courtroom. God is the judge. You and I are the defendants. All right, now who is going to bring a charge against us? Satan can’t. Though he may accuse us of wrongdoing, there’s no record, no proof, no substantiating evidence. The record of our sins has been erased, completely cancelled when Christ our Savior died on the cross. And without any proof you can’t be convicted. So as Paul says, God has justified us. He has declared us to be “not guilty.” You and I are free. We don’t have to do any time. We haven’t even been put on probation. We’re free—free from sin, free from guilt, free from death. You see, God is on our side. And if God is for us, who can be against us?
Paul even takes it one step further. The Judge, he says, is pleading our case himself: “Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us”(v. 34). Jesus Christ is the judge of all mankind. At the end of time all people will have to stand before his judgment seat. You and I will have to stand before his judgment seat. But notice again what Paul says: Jesus, the Judge, “is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” In other words Jesus is pleading our case. Our judge is also our defense attorney. How can we lose? Obviously we can’t, not with God on our side. If God is for us, who can be against us?
The fourth truth of which Paul reminds us is that nothing can separate us from the love of God. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” asks Paul. “Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” (v. 35) Again the answer to Paul’s question is a resounding “No.” None of these things can separate us from the love of God. God’s love is too great. You see, God’s love is not like human love. God’s love is not fickle and it does not fade with the passage of time. God’s love is unchanging. God’s love is constant. God’s love lasts. In the book of Jeremiah God says to you and me, “I have loved you with an everlasting love”(31:3). Before we were even born God loved us. He loves us now and always will.
With love like that, how can we lose? Fact is, we can’t. As Paul says in v. 37, “We are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” Conquerors have to go out and fight and win their battles. You and I don’t have to go out and fight. The battle’s already won. Christ our Savior won it for us.
Does that mean, then, that there won’t be any troubles in our lives, that there won’t be any hardships we have to endure? No, Paul knew better than that. Paul experienced all kinds of troubles and hardships during his own life: imprisonment, persecution, illness—you name it. Yes, the troubles would come, but in the end he would overcome. Those troubles, as difficult as they were at times, could not affect his status as one of God’s children, nor could they take away God’s love.
I am convinced…, Paul says. I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (vv. 38+39)
Friends, I’m not sure what else Paul could say—what other illustration he could use, what other statement he could make to drive home his point. If God is for us, who can be against us?
I remember back when I was in grade school how we used to choose up sides to play ball. There was one person in our class whom everyone wanted on his team. His name was Terry Steinbach—yes, the same Terry Steinbach who went on to play professional baseball for the Oakland Athletics and later on, the Minnesota Twins. Terry was an outstanding athlete. He was faster than anyone else in our class, and stronger too. And man, he could hit the ball a mile. If he was on your team, you were almost sure to win.
You and I have someone on our team who’s a lot faster and a lot stronger than Terry Steinbach, or any other professional athlete. In fact, he’s the strongest person in the universe, someone who actually does have phenomenal cosmic power, but without the itty bitty living space. We’ve got God on our side. And if God is for us, who can be against us? Amen.