Romans 8:18-39
Key Verse 8:37----   “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

Romans chapter 8 is the conclusion of  chapters 1-7. In chapter 8:1-17  we learned that there is now no more condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. We also learned that we are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. In chapter 8:18-39 we learn Paul’s personal faith and conviction. It is the faith and conviction that all believers in the Lord Jesus should have. He said in verse 37, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” Paul suffered greatly doing God’s work. He often went about hungry and in ragged clothes. He was in danger continuously. Yet he never thought that he was a loser. He never became fatalistic about his human condition. Instead he knew that God was working out all things for his good purpose. He believed in all things that God loved him.

Accepting and believing God’s love in all life’s trials and circumstances is the key to our living a victorious life of faith. Let’s now think about why we are more than conquerors. I pray that through this message, we may think deeply about the love of Christ. May God help you to accept that through Jesus you are more than conquerors.
 

PART 1. FUTURE GLORY (18-27)

 First, We are more than conquerors because we have the future hope of God’s glory. Let’s read verses 18, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”  Paul mentions sufferings and glory in this verse. It is natural for human beings to want glory because we were created in God’s image. God is the God of glory. Glory can mean honor, fame and recognition. But because we all live in a fallen world, we must struggle hard to get even a taste of glory. If people get a taste of it, it is just a taste. It is short lived and gone like the early morning dew. Therefore many people suffer because they barely taste even earthly glory.

But Christians will receive a glory that will not be taken away from them. In this life, whether we are a believer or not, we will suffer. Unbelievers suffer from their ego, pride and sin in general. They hope to catch the rainbow, such as winning the lottery. But in the end, they die without hope because their hope was in the perishing world. Believers suffer from trying to live a godly and holy life like Jesus Christ in this godless world. They struggle to be like Jesus and give up many things. They look like their suffering and losing life is in vain. But not so. This is because we who believe will have the glory of the kingdom of God. One day we will behold Christ in all his glory. One day we will be honored by God in his kingdom and hear his voice say to us, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” We will then all receive a beautiful crown of life and we will shine like the sun  in the kingdom of the Father. One minute of the glory of heaven will make us forget all our troubles and hardships in this life.

 Let’s read verses 19-22, “The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.”

 According to these verses God subjected the whole creation to frustration. When did this happen and why?  According to the book of Genesis, when man disobeyed God’s command. Once God said of the world and all that was in it, “It was very good.” But after man disobeyed, sin came into the world. Then the world and all its creation was not good because of sin. God cursed both man and the creation. Since that time, all of creation suffers to live in a world in sin. “Survival of the fittest” is not only man’s motto but also all the creatures and even the plants motto.

There are plants with thorns and plants like poison ivy that live in fear. They hope that their thorns and poison will protect them from being eaten up or trampled on. Animals struggle to survive, only to get eaten up by other animals.  Did you ever see a lion sneak upon a helpless young zebra? It attacks it without mercy and bites into its jugular vein in its neck, killing it instantly. When the mother zebra sees this it cries and cries that it has to live in a sin cursed world. The animal world suffers in fear from man who know that if they don’t eat animals, animals will eat them.

All of creation is frustrated from living in a world of sin where they have to struggle to survive. However God who frustrated it is the only one that can liberate it. Only God has the power to do so. The creation is waiting for that day when it will not be ruled by sinful man, but by the children of God. The prophet Isaiah spoke of this day in Isaiah chapter when he talked about the restoration of creation order. Let’s read Isaiah chapter 11:6-9.

In that day there will be a new heavens and a new earth. It will be glorious and beautiful. But until then, we will still hear a lot of groaning of animals and plants. Who else is also groaning?

Let’s read verse 23, “Not only so, but we who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” We are also groaning because our bodies are subject to sin and weakness. Soon Mary Brogi will have a baby. She will groan  as the baby tries to come out. She will groan even more as she tries to push the baby out. Shepherd David will be there too, with her groaning for her and groaning inwardly about his knee.

Verse 23 mentions to us the firstfruits of the Spirit. This is the Holy Spirit. As believers in Jesus we have the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is like a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until we are fully redeemed. In us it promises better things will come. The better things that will come are our adoption as sons and daughters into the kingdom of God where we will have a new and powerful resurrection body. Paul talked about this in 1 Corinthians 15:42-44, “So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body…”

Until that time, we groan inwardly looking forward to the day when we won’t have to suffer from bad knees, bad backs and allergies,  asthma and all kinds of sicknesses. Our bodies will be like Christ’s glorious resurrection body. Jesus said that we would be like the angels in heaven. Let’s read verses 24-25, “For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”

Hope is a key ingredient in our spiritual life. Hope is like faith. What are we putting our hope in is a barometer for our life of faith. Where should our hope not be? Our hope should  not be in a world that is in decay and that is dying. If we put hope in anything or anyone in the world we will eventually be disappointed and discouraged. This year many Washington area residents are putting their hope in the Redskins to win the Super Bowl. Anything less than victory in the Super Bowl will not be accepted.  If they don’t win the Super Bowl they will be greatly disappointed. If they do win, the glory of the Super Bowl victory will fade away and in a few months they will expect them to win next year again. Human glory is only short lived at best and leaves us empty.

The hope of believers is not anything in this world and it is not in anything that can seen. If it were, then it would be no hope. The real hope for all believers is the redemption of our bodies and to be with our Lord Jesus Christ in heaven in glory and in honor. Right now there is absolutely no sign of it. But this does not mean it will never happen. What we all need to do is wait. But waiting is never easy because it requires patience.

Sometimes my young boys excitingly ask me when they can drive the car, thinking that it will be very soon. They like to sit in the front seat when it is parked and play with the steering wheel, making believe that they are driving the car even though their feet cannot even touch the accelerator pedal or the brake pedal.  When I tell them that they have to wait until they are sixteen years old,  they sigh, and go “Oh man!!! That’s so long!!” They need to wait patiently. Many young men and women have the great hope to get married. But they, too, need to learn patience and to wait on God’s time.

No one by nature is patient. This is why we have to read the Bible and learn from how the great men and women of faith learned patience. God promised Abraham a son and to make him into a great nation. Abraham had no sign of this, especially since his wife was old and barren and he also was too old. However, Abraham did not doubt the promise of God. He believed that God had the power to do it even though year after year there was no change in his human situation. However, when he had hope in God he experienced the power of God and the joy of God. Twenty-five years after the promise, God gave him and Sarah a son. They had joy that no one could take away. Their hope and patience had paid off. Now they are experiencing eternal joy in the kingdom of heaven because all they were promised has become sight. So I ask you, please be patient. God has something great planned for you, far better than the decaying things of this world. It is a new heavens and a new earth.   Let’s read Revelation 21:1-4 to find out.

Let’s read verses 26-27, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.”

God does everything to give us hope and strength. God knows  that we are weak while we live in this weak body of flesh. God through his Spirit wants to encourage us to pray. Sometimes we feel too tired  to pray. Sometimes we don’t feel inspired to pray. But when we ask God to help us to pray God inspires us and intercedes for us through his Holy Spirit.

Sometimes all we can do is groan to God because of our unfaithful sheep or our many mistakes and weaknesses. Nothing seems to come out of our mouths, except groaning. But God knows what we are groaning because he has the Spirit interpreting our groans to God and God understands us.

Through the Spirit God reveals his will for us. Many  Christians say that they do not know what God’s will is for them.  They do not know what to pray for and how to pray. But through the help of the Spirit, he shows us what to pray for and how to pray and he gives us strength to be men and women of prayer. Through the Spirit we know the will of God. What is the will of God? Jesus prayed and said, “Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done.”

When we keep on praying we realize that God wants us to pray for America to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation for the world. God wants his Son Jesus to be glorified and his kingdom come in America. God wants to make America into a missionary sending nation to the whole world.
 

2. WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS (28-39)

 Let’s read verse 28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”  The second way that we are more than conquerors is by accepting that God does all things in our life for our good. Because we are the children of God, God works all things for our good. What are these “all things”? All things means in all our sufferings, hardships and trials. It means in all the people we meet. In all things means in every and in any situation.  This is because God has sovereign ownership of our lives. Nothing happens in our life without his purpose behind it. God has a good purpose for everything that comes in our life. So there is no failure and there is no  fatalism in God’s children in their lives if they accept that God is working his good purpose for them. Do you know this?

 A good example of this is the life of Joseph. When he was seventeen years old, his jealous older brothers sold him to some Midianite traders who then took him to Egypt and sold him as a slave. In Egypt, Joseph suffered from separation anxiety and culture shock. He worked hard and God was with him and he prospered. However he must have struggled hard to understand what was going on when Potiphar’s wife accused him of trying to rape her and when  Potiphar had him thrown in prison. For thirteen years he was a slave then  a slave in prison. All that happened did not happen because Joseph deserved punishment. He did not do anything wrong. So he could question, “Why?”

Why did all of this happen to him? All of it happened because God had a plan for Joseph’s life. God was working out his good for Joseph’s life. In prison he was forgotten for two more years. But then he was brought to Pharaoh to interpret Pharaoh’s dream. After he interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams and impressed Pharaoh’s officials with his wisdom, Pharaoh made him Prime minister. Later when he met his brothers he realized that God had used all his sufferings to help redeem his brothers. He finally understood that in all things God was working for his good to make him a source of blessing and an instrument of salvation for his brothers.   He told this to his brothers in Genesis chapter 45, “And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will not be plowing and reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.”

 There is also a story of a young woman who at the age of seventeen had a serious swimming accident. When she and her friends were diving and swimming off the Chesapeake Bay, she dove in too close to some rocks and she hit her head and became paralyzed from her neck down. While in the hospital she could not understand why this happened to her. If she could she wanted to commit suicide. But God sent some friends who were committed Christians. They told her about Jesus and the gospel. When she believed, a new desire to live flowed within her body. In her wheel chair she would go and tell other parapalegics like herself the good news of Jesus and his great love for them. She overcame her paralysis that was not a physical one, but a spiritual one, through believing the absolute love of God that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Soon she began to learn how to draw and paint by putting the paint brush and pen in her mouth. She became a great encouragement to other Christians. I read her book and she said that she is more happier know than she was before she was paralyzed because know she is doing the will of God. The woman I am talking about is Joni Earikson.

In the moment of our troubles and trials, we cannot see the end from the beginning. But we need to accept that God loves us and has a greater purpose and plan for our lives in our moment of sufferings. Verses 29-30 show us what they are. Let’s read verses 29-30, “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.”

 They are happening because God wants to transform us into the likeness of Jesus Christ. The more we are like Jesus Christ, the more we become a conqueror in this life. Therefore we should not complain when we go through life’s difficulties and trials. Instead we should praise God and thank God and say, “Thank you Lord for you want to conform me to be more than a conqueror like Jesus.”

It is really a sign of God’s love that he in all things is working out his purpose in our life through good times and bad times. When God called us, he justified us. He forgave all our sins and declared us to be just and right in his sight. Then before glorified, he sanctifies us through his word. Jesus prayed in John 17 for his disciples, “Father sanctify them by the truth, your word is truth.”

Now as we hear his word, he wants to sanctify us. He wants us to believe that he has justified us by faith and glorified us with the same faith. He wants us to hope in his love and his eternal glory that according to God has happened already because glorified here is in the past tense.

 Let’s read verses 31-32, “What then shall we say in response to this? If God be for us, who can be against us? 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?”  As we know, Paul suffered many times because he was  a servant God. However, he never doubted the love of God. The love of God is the great theme of the whole Bible. God who created the heavens and the earth and who created man in his image and who gave him his Only Son is the God of love.

 In the Garden of Eden, the devil tempted man to doubt God’s great love. The devil made Eve to think that God was restricting her and her husband, Adam. Man’s problem comes when he listens to the devil and doubts the love of God. This happens especially when we go through some difficulties and hardships; even small ones.  Satan talks and talks  loud and louder at us saying to us that God does not love us.

 So what must we remember when we go through the ups and downs of life? What is the most important thing? It is to remember that God loves us unconditionally and absolutely with no strings attached. The best expression of his love is that he did not spare his own Son, but graciously gave him up for us all. This is God’s sign to us. He gave his own on for us. He bled for our sins and was crucified for our sins. On the cross, Jesus prayed, “Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.”

 When we are faithfully serving God and we lack something, God who gave his one and only Son will graciously give us all things. His love for us continues through our whole life. He never stops loving us.

 Let’s read verses 33-34, “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 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.”  Sometimes we feel lonely in doing the work of God and following the way of Jesus. When we go campus fishing and no one accepts our invitation we can often feel that everyone is against us. When students become nasty to us and say “No”, even before we can open our mouths  we can feel most unloved. I remember one particular incident when I went fishing and the students were very unresponsive and even nasty. All of this happened inside the Stamp Union one cold winter day.  I felt no sympathy from anyone that day. I looked around to see if anyone would sympathize with my rejections. But there was no one. I felt so lonely. I even felt that the  Stamp Union building was against me. I felt as if even the Stamp Union building was saying to me, “What are you doing here? Get out of here!!”

 However, after reading the Bible again I realized that God loves me and it did not matter what anyone said. God loves us! No one  can say what we are doing is wrong. No one can condemn us because Jesus was condemned for us. Especially, through Jesus’ death and resurrection, we can go to the throne of God and express all our troubles and problems in prayer. Through Jesus we know that we are in the right and those who do not believe are in the wrong. Through Jesus we know that there will be a day of judgment  and a day of wrath and anger on those who do not repent accept the gospel. They will be condemned. While we who have believed and have been faithful will be honored with the crown of life.

  Let’s read verses 35-36, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: ‘For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

 Paul believed that Christ’s love for him was like a vine and branch relationship. He believed that no matter where he was or what happened to him that God loved him through Christ. We can see what Paul thought mostly about. He did not think about all his sufferings and his poor life. He did not think about those who left the church to follow their own way. He had no bitter thoughts or vengeful thoughts. He did not become angry at those who tried to kill him. He did not think about what his life might be like if he retired and just spoke lectures at Jerusalem University.

 No, Paul only thought about the love of Christ. Paul thought how great was the love of Christ. When he thought more and more about the love of Christ, he became more and more stronger. Let’s read verse 37, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”  Paul could only conclude that he and all who believed the love of God were more than conquerors in this life. This was because he knew that God was working out all things for his good. He believed that God was sovereign and the owner of his life. He never doubted God’s love.

At the time of this writing, the world was ruled by the powerful Roman Empire. The Roman Empire looked invincible and its powers looked so great that the rest of the world trembled. By human appearance, Paul was a middle aged Jewish man of small stature and with a big nose. He often went around with worn clothes and without food. He had no permanent place he could call home. He was in constant danger. Let’s read 2 Cor.11:23-28. He hardly looked like a powerful man. However, in God’s sight and in his sight he was more than a conqueror. God was actually using him to bring the gospel to the Gentile world through Rome. Paul actually conquered the Roman world with the gospel. But more than that, he conquered the world with the love of God.

 We can learn here that there are no losers in the Christian life. We are not losers, but we are more than conquerors. We don’t have to be physically strong to be more than a conqueror or to be a black belt in karate to be more than a conqueror. We don’t have to get straight A’s to be more than a conqueror or have a job with a six figure income. All we need to do is to accept God’s unfailing love for us personally. All we need to do is have a deep personal faith that God loves us. Then we believe this, then nothing can separate us from his love.

 Let’s read verses 38-39, “For 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.”   There are many things that try to separate us from the love of God. Verses 35-36 mentioned some bad things. These verses mention some good things.

In our life school studies, jobs and children can try to separate us from the love of God if we don’t accept God’s sovereign love, we can lose our heart to these things.

 As long as we have faith that Jesus loves us, nothing will be able to separate us from the love of Christ. Nothing in all creation. I pray that God may give us a thankful heart that he loves us through Christ on a moment by moment basis. This Fall semester we will face many difficulties and hardships if we chose to follow Jesus. However, let us remember that we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Let us remember that God is working in our lives for our good because he called us. This is his love. May God help you to understand how he is working in your life. May God strengthen you to  know his love so that you may be more than a conqueror.