In verses 38 and 39 Paul declares loudly victory stating, “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.”
Paul said in chapters 1 to 6 that by having a faith of believing in Jesus Christ a person is made righteous. In chapter 7 he says that those who are made righteous have a struggle with sin. In other words, even though within yourself you want to do what is right, you do what you don’t want to do because of the sin that is within you. However, Christians have the Holy Spirit of God so the Holy Spirit sets us free from the law of sin and death. Therefore, we don’t need to worry about our sin. No one, nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ. Today let’s look at three aspects of Christian victory.
I. If God is for us (vs. 31, 32)
Paul after saying everything that he has said up until now, asks the question, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (31) This is written in the form of a question, but in reality it is a strong question leading to the conclusion. In other words, the conclusion is so strong that no one can disagree with it. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (31) No one can. Around us there are many different powers that go against us. In verses 35 to 36 Paul says, “Who can 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.”
At that time when a person believed in Jesus they were persecuted. Sometimes they were sent away to the desert in hunger. Sometimes they had to hide in the graveyard. It was like being a “sheep to be slaughtered”. (36) “Considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” (26) is phrased like this to show how terrible the persecution was. When they believed in Christ, there were trials like fire. The same is true today.
Today we may not be persecuted like they were at that time, but in a different way it comes upon us. For example, just living we face many different troubles and sufferings in our daily life. In our lives we wonder why we have to suffer and have so many troubles. Also in our lives the consequences of sin is still left, and Satan uses it skillfully. With strong power he sometimes attacks us. That causes us to struggle. There are many different things that still oppose us.
However, no matter how strong these powers are, “If God is for us,” (31) then no one can be against us. That is because God made the heaven and earth and is all powerful. He controls all things. Surely God is the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. There is no one that can oppose Him.
Isaiah 40:28-31
“The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth,,,and his understanding no one can fathom.” (Isaiah 40:28) “If God is for us,” (31) then what do we need to fear? If someone is against me, then that means he is against God too. There is no one who can go against God and win. Therefore, if we are with God, we have nothing to fear.
When David was surrounded by many enemies, he confessed, “LORD, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me! Many are saying of me ‘God will not deliver him.’ But, you, LORD, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high. I call out to the LORD, and he answers me from his holy mountain. I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the LORD sustains me. I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side.” (Psalms 3; 1-6)
Even though David was is such a situation he didn’t fear because he had assurance that the Lord was with him. Even though the whole world is surrounding you as enemies, if God is with you, then you won’t have to yield and you can live boldly. It isn’t necessary to be concerned about other people or worry about people’s threats.
That is because God is with you and will sustain you.
By God’s love we can know that “God is for us”. (31) Please look at verse 32.
God “for us all” (32) gave his own Son to die; so “will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (32) Of course. God along with his son will “graciously give us all things?” (32) Therefore the important thing is to realize how much God has loved us up until now.
God “did not spare his own Son, but gave him up” (32) to die. That is how much he loved us. If that’s the case, we need the assurance that God is not only for us, but His love is the kind of love that no matter what happens He is always holding on to us and won’t let us go No matter what happens that God will always watch over us. Yes, God’s absolute love is the base of our victory.
II. It is God who justifies (vs. 33,34)
The second point is that even though someone condemns you, “it is God who justifies” (33) you. Let’s look at verses 33 and 34.
This a great declaration. God through the shedding of Christ’s blood saved us. Therefore even if someone tries to condemn us, they can’t. That is because God has justified us. To be justified is a word used in law. At a trial when a person is declared “not guilty”, it is used. In Hebrews 9:27 we are told that we will all die once, but after death will be judged. At the final judgment, we will be declared, “not guilty”. Before we believed in God, we said that God didn’t exist. We disregarded God. We caused God pain. We disappointed God. We hurt God just as a child does when he has no regard for his parents. Even though we believed we still can’t accept others, have bitterness towards other, are jealous, are depressed, and live for ourselves. We put ourselves first so without thinking about it we tell lies, fight, don’t do the will of God, and live disappointing God. This is how we really are. Even so, God justifies us.
This is possible because Jesus died on the cross in our place and received the punishment of sin that we should have received. That is the reason that Jesus became man and came to this world. For man to be justified by God, first of all he must make God’s standards. That standard is the law. However, man can not follow it. Therefore, Jesus received the punishment in our place. This Jesus enters our hearts, and declares us as justified. This is God’s salvation.
Romans 10:4
However, mankind hates God’s grace. They have a tendency to try by all means to be saved by their own strength. By things like their own strength, their own training, their own spirituality, when things go the way they want them to, they are proud. There is no one that has no pride. Considering that our hearts are filthy and from the top of our heads to the bottom of our toes our body is a solid lump of sin how can we be proud? There is no other way but by God’s grace Jesus Christ who came from heaven to earth and who justified us. There is no other way, but to bow before Him, repent and believe in Christ. By this faith God will freely justify us.
Therefore, no matter what method Satan uses and even if Satan tries to make Christians to feel guilty for past sin, it is not necessary to be agitated by that. That is because “God has chosen” (33) us. A person, who is chosen by God, is specially made as God’s so Satan shouldn’t make you feel guilty. Even if Satan says to you, “What a terrible person you are!” “You couldn’t be saved; you do so many bad things. You’re worst than a nonChristian.”, you can assert that God has chosen you and made you righteous. If you looked only at the contents of what Satan is saying, it is certainly true. We are really terrible sinners, and ought not to be saved. Even so, God through Jesus Christ made us righteous. Based upon that the Bible says, “Therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (1)
Also, no matter how much Satan charges Christians, we don’t even need to worry about it at all. “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.” (34) To intercede is to defend us in court. In other words, Christ will make the defense that he died on the cross for our sins, and paid the price of sin in our place. There is no more of a certain guarantee than this. The reason for our salvation is not within ourselves, but in God. If we understand this, even if we sin, there is no need to be afraid. We because of our sin, we need to become humbler, but Jesus who is seated at the right hand of God is defending us by saying, “Father, this person’s sin is forgiven” so we can be bold. God, who is the judge, will surely accept the defense, and declare us righteous.
Therefore, what is important is to be thankful for God’s declaration of making us righteous, and always repent and live with God. If we do that our assurance of salvation will become more certain of a thing in our hearts and our Christian life will be full of life.
III. More than conquerors (vs. 35-37)
The third point is that by Jesus Christ we can become more than conquerors. Let’s look at verses 35-37.
.Verses 31 to 39 is only 9 verses long, but it is really an abundant declaration of victory. It would be good to memorize this passage. If it is difficult to memorize the whole thing, just verse 37 would be good. A person that can move forward holding on to this passage will have a reward guaranteed in heaven. In reality at that time they were experiencing severe persecution and there were times when faith shrunk, but the Lord’s Holy Spirit was with them so no matter what happened, “in all these things” (37) they were “more than conquerors”. (37) For example, at that time as a result of their faith Christians wearing lamb skins were put in the coliseum which was filled with lions. Even so they died singing praises to God.
In Japan too, there were a lot persecutions like that. Among them was the famous one during the age of Hideyoshi Toyotomi who put out the order called the Bateren Expulsion Order. He feared the power of the Christians in Kyushu and persecuted them. One example is “The 26 Martyrs of Japan”. Also with the 24 Christians that were arrested in Kyoto, along the way to Nagasaki 2 others voluntarily joined the group and 26 people in Feb. 1597 were martyred on Nishisaka Hill in Nagasaki.
In the procession was a 12 year old Louis Ibaraki. A man, Hanzaburo Terazawa moved by the grossness of situation tried to help the youth by encouraging him to give up his faith, but Louis Ibaraki strongly objected and refused to. Then he asked, “Where is my cross” and then ran to his cross and sat down. On the cross he moved his body which was bound and his fingers, and said joyfully, “Paradise, Jesus, Mary”.
Also, St. Anthony who had turned 13 said smiling to encourage his crying parents who went out to meet him on Nishisaka Hill, “Don’t cry because I am going to heaven”. Then to the Father that was next to him. He said. “Father, Let’s sing.” While he was singing a hymn of thanksgiving, he was executed.
Also St. Paulo Sanki while facing death preached his last sermon on the cross before a crowd that surrounded him of over 4000 people. He also prayed that those who put him on him on the cross would be forgiven and that Japan would become Christian nation soon.
Even though they were about to die, they were able to be this bold because they were surrounded by the love of God. God’s Holy Spirit was with them so they were “more than conquerors”. (37)
In our life many different kinds of trials threaten us, troubles and persecution press upon us, and we are led into situations that we think we can’t endure. However, the Holy Spirit gives us strength so that we are “more than conquerors” (37) over these problems. More than that no matter what trials, troubles, suffering, persecutions come our way, there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God and we can declare victory.