Our Ultimate Security - Part 1 (Romans 8:31-39)
INTRODUCTION:
Romans 8:29-30 spoke of God’s two-fold purpose of salvation and then laid out for us the progression of salvation from God’s point of view and it is absolutely amazing to realize that His plan of salvation for people progresses from eternity past to eternity future and God will carry out His plan and purpose perfectly for each person that puts their faith in Jesus Christ, believing that He died as their substitute, was buried and rose triumphant from the dead on the third day. Paul now asks and answers seven questions that drive home this truth that he has been teaching in this chapter that a believer’s eternal salvation is eternally secure in God’s hands, what He began in eternity past will be completed in eternity future when we are conformed to the image of God’s Son and take our place in God’s family and glorify the Son as the preeminent, glorious Son of God, Savior, Lord and King.
As we begin this final section of Romans 8, and I believe it will take us two weeks to get through these nine verses we will find that verses 31-34 focus on the love of God the Father and verses 35-39 focus on the love of God the Son and how their love for those God has chosen in His foreknowledge secures our salvation until our glorification. Let’s pray and then get into our final passage of this wonderful chapter.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles this morning, and I do hope you are following along in your Bibles, turn to Romans 8:31-39 the passage we will begin this morning, the great conclusion to this amazing chapter full of amazing truth. Please, follow along as I read.
Romans 8:31-39,
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, ‘For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’ But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:31–39, NASB95)[1]
THE LOVE OF GOD THE FATHER
--ROMANS 8:31-34--
QUESTION ONE – AN INTRODUCTION (Romans 8:31a)
Paul’s first question is a general question that points back to all that he has already said in this chapter. He begins this final section with an introductory question, he writes, “What then shall we say to these things?” (Romans 8:31a, NASB95)[2] Paul in this final passage has much to say about the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ on our behalf with a focus on the security that His atonement brings to us who have put our faith in Him. This has been an underlying theme through this whole chapter and as he brings it to a close he wants to remove any doubts or fears that believers might have about their eternal security, in this passage and through these questions and answers Paul assures his readers that no person and no circumstance can cause a believer to lose or forfeit his or her salvation. God’s love for us demonstrated in the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ is our eternal security. Paul uses this first question as a jumping off point, as the introduction to the rest of his conclusion in these verses. Paul in essence is saying, considering all that I have just written to you, what do we say about it? Like a teacher asking, “Do you have any questions on the material?” Then he launches into questions that might arise from what he has taught and gives the answers to those questions.
QUESTIONS TWO AND THREE: WHO IS AGAINST US? (Romans 8:31b-32)
Paul’s second question gets right to the issue of our eternal security. He writes, “If God is for us, who is against us?” (Romans 8:31, NASB95)[3] Even though Paul begins this question with “if” he has already established that God is for us in the preceding verses, especially the two that we looked at last week where we saw God’s progression of salvation. With what we have already learned in this chapter and because in Greek this word translated “if” can signify a fulfilled condition the meaning of this first phrase is “Because God is for us.” Because He is for us, who is against us? Because of who God is, it would have to be someone greater than God to be against us. God is the Creator of all things and everyone who exists. There is no one greater than Him, and as the One who gives salvation and sustains us in our salvation, there is no one who can be against us in the sense of taking our salvation away or of removing our no condemnation status that is ours in Christ. The psalmist in Psalm 118:6 declared this same truth when he wrote, “The Lord is for me; I will not fear; What can man do to me?” (Psalm 118:6, NASB95)[4] For that matter what can any person do to us concerning our salvation when the Lord is for us. David put it this way in Psalm 27:1, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life; Whom shall I dread?” (Psalm 27:1, NASB95)[5]
Clearly there is no one that we must fear when it comes to the eternal security of our salvation. No one can cause us to lose or forfeit our salvation, not anyone by trying to tell us that we must do certain things to keep our salvation, like the Judaizers of Paul’s day who said that no person whether Jew or Gentile could be saved or maintain their salvation unless they were circumcised and followed the Mosaic Law. Paul fought against this false teaching throughout his ministry, the Jerusalem council had decided that no believer is under the ritual law of the Mosaic covenant. The book of Galatians was written to refute this teaching. Today there are those who teach that salvation can be lost by committing what they call mortal sins. Because of the false teaching that is in our world today some Christians believe that they can lose or forfeit their salvation by committing some sin that will cause them to fall out of God’s grace and lose their salvation. But we must remember that the work of salvation is God’s work, not ours, we are not able by our own power and effort to save ourselves, to free ourselves from the bondage of sin, to bring ourselves to God, and to make ourselves His children, this is all God’s work, so how could we by our own effort lose a salvation that we did not accomplish, but God in His grace accomplished for us. The only One who could take away our salvation is the One who gave it to us but the very thought of that goes against what God’s Word says, even what our passage says today. Paul answers this question by asking another question, the third question in this passage. He writes in verse 32, “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32, NASB95)[6] God sacrificed His own Son so that you and I could be saved, would He save us and then take away the salvation His Son had purchased for us through His death? This goes against all that we have learned in this chapter and all that is written in God’s Word. God would not do less for believers after they are saved than He did before they were saved. Remember that God loved us while we were wretched, rebellious sinners, He loved us so much that He delivered up His own Son for us all, do you think He would really turn from us and take away our salvation after He had cleansed us from sin and declared us righteous in His sight? No, He would not, God loves us, He saves us, and He keeps us saved until our salvation is complete when He brings us into our glorified state.
This idea of not sparing His own Son is so clearly foreshadowed or pictured for us in the Old Testament. Isaac, the son of Abraham was an Old Testament type of Jesus Christ. When the Lord commanded Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, the promised son, Abraham and Isaac willingly obeyed God’s command. The willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac is a beautiful type or foreshadow of the willingness of God the Father to offer up His only begotten Son as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. The willingness of Isaac to allow his father to bind him and place him on the altar to be sacrificed foreshadows Jesus Christ’s willingness to go to the cross as a sacrifice for sin. We know that God intervened in the sacrifice of Isaac and provided a substitute for Isaac, a ram to take his place. It is at this point that the analogy changes from comparison to contrast as our text in Romans states, because God did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. Jesus Christ became our substitute, just as the ram became Isaac’s.
Jesus Christ’s substitutionary atonement on our behalf is not only the foundation of our salvation, but also the foundation of our eternal security. God the Father loved us so much that while we were still wretched, rebellious sinners condemned to die in our sins, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21, NASB95)[7] Jesus Christ, God the Son loved us so much when we were still wretched, rebellious sinners condemned to die in our sins, that Paul wrote in the second half of Ephesians 5:2 that Jesus, “…loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.” (Ephesians 5:2b, NASB95)[8] Jesus promised His disciples that He was going to prepare a place for them and that He will come and bring them to His Father’s house to be with Him forever. In this promise He does not says that some will be lost but promises that each one will have a dwelling place in His eternal presence. In that same chapter He also promises that the Holy Spirit will be with us forever. (John 14:2-3; 16) Again this promise is not qualified, there are no exceptions, because there is no power or person in heaven or on earth who could take from the Godhead those who have been saved by God for eternity.
Paul in this verse includes himself with the believers in Rome. Twice he uses the term “us”, God, “who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32, NASB95)[9] What are all things that He freely gives us in Christ? Paul call them spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Ephesians 1:3 where he writes again including himself, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,” (Ephesians 1:3, NASB95)[10] If God freely gives or blesses all of us, who have put our faith in Jesus Christ, with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, then loss of salvation is clearly impossible. All of us who are believers will receive that eternal inheritance. In other words, Paul is saying that since God gave the greatest sacrifice of all, His own Son, He will certainly not hesitate to give believers all other things pertaining to and leading to our ultimate sanctification when we enter into our glorified state.
QUESTIONS FOUR AND FIVE: WHO ACCUSES? (Romans 8:33-34)
Paul moves onto to answer two more questions that may arise in a believer’s mind? He writes, “Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns?” (Romans 8:33–34a, NASB95)[11] The believer may say what if I am charged with sin, will I again be condemned to die in my sins? This doubt arises in the mind because Satan and the world are always bringing a charge against us. Satan is called the accuser of the brethren in Revelation 12:10. He and the world continually bring charges against those God has chosen by His foreknowledge, but those charges brought by the world and by Satan do not get far because they amount to nothing before God, because as we learned last week, those whom God foreknew, He predestined, those He predestined, He also called, and those He called, He also justified. God, Paul writes here, is the one who justifies, God is the one who decides who is righteous before Him. We who have repented and trusted in Jesus Christ for salvation have been declared eternally guiltless, no longer are we under the condemnation of God as Paul made abundantly clear in the first verse of this chapter. God is the only one who could condemn us, He is the One who created the law, He is the One who revealed it to Moses, He is the interpreter of the law and the One who applies and enforces the law. And through the life and sacrifice of God’s own Son, all the demands of the law have been met for those who trust Him for salvation, we are justified, declared righteous in God’s sight.
Understand that many of the accusations made by Satan and the unbelieving world against believers are false, but that is not always the case. We must remember that even as believers we are not yet sinless, we still give into temptation and fall into sin, but even if an accusation is made against us that is true, it is never enough for us to be condemned, because all of our sins, past, present and future, were paid for and have been covered by the blood of Jesus Christ and we are clothed in His righteousness.
This is the answer that Paul gives in response to the question of who is the one who condemns? Paul reminds us of what Jesus Christ has done and is doing for us now so that there is no more condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Paul writes in verse 34, “…who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.” (Romans 8:34, NASB95)[12] Because Jesus intercedes for us, what He said concerning us in John 10:27-30 is true, Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:27–30, NASB95)[13] Jesus did not say that He offers temporary spiritual life, He said I give them eternal life and they will never perish. If we could somehow be condemned again for our sin, then our life in Christ would not be eternal.
Paul in this verse reveals to us four things about Jesus Christ that protect our salvation, that proves that we are eternally secure in Jesus Christ. First, Paul writes that Christ Jesus is He who died. When Jesus Christ died, He died as our substitute, He paid the penalty required for sin which is death. He died in our place; He bore the condemnation that we deserved but now because of His death for us we are forever free from condemnation. It was because of the death of Jesus Christ that Paul could write in the first verse of this chapter, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1, NASB95)[14] Second, Paul writes that Jesus was raised from the dead, His resurrection proves His victory over sin and death. Because Jesus conquered death, the tomb could not hold Him, and His triumph over death means that all who trust in Him receive resurrection life and eternal life. Jesus’ death paid the price for our sins and His resurrection gave the absolute proof that the price was paid in full. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the proof that the wrath of God against sin was fully satisfied and the full demand of the law against sin had been met in full. Third, Paul writes that Jesus Christ is at the right hand of God, the place of honor and exaltation. As Paul wrote in Philippians 2:8-9, “Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,” (Philippians 2:8–9, NASB95)[15] In Psalm 110:1 David wrote of this event when Jesus would sit at the right hand of God, he wrote, “The Lord says to my Lord: ‘Sit at My right hand Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.’” (Psalm 110:1, NASB95)[16] The author of Hebrews makes a big deal of this when it speaks of Jesus Christ as our high priest sitting down at the right hand of God, because in the temple there were no seats, the priests were constantly on their feet ministering, offering sacrifices, a job that was never finished. Those sacrifices were just a picture of the one and only true sacrifice that God’s Son would one day make. The author explains it this way in Hebrews 10:11-12, “Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God,” (Hebrews 10:11–12, NASB95)[17] Jesus Christ’s one time sacrifice of Himself brought an end to the sacrificial system, the work of our High Priest in regards to atonement of sin was done and He could sit down. Fourth, Paul writes that Jesus Christ also intercedes for us. Jesus Christ’s work of atonement was finished at His death, but His work of interceding for those of us who were saved by His sacrifice will continue until every person redeemed by His blood is safely at home with Him in heaven. Isaiah had prophesied of our Savior’s death and of His ministry of intercession on our behalf, he wrote in the second half of Isaiah 53:12, “Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.” (Isaiah 53:12, NASB95)[18] The author of Hebrews wrote concerning Jesus in Hebrews 7:25, “Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” (Hebrews 7:25, NASB95)[19] We have a Savior and High Priest who intercedes for us when we sin and comes to our defense when Satan or any others seek to bring charges against us. John gave us the promise that the One who intercedes for us will forgive us when we sin even after we are saved in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9, NASB95)[20] and then just a few verses later in 1 John 2:1 he writes, “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;” (1 John 2:1, NASB95)[21] Until He brings us into His Father’s house to be with Him forever Jesus Christ is interceding for us until we are made perfect, conformed to His image, and free forever from the presence of sin.
CONCLUSION:
We are going to stop here this morning. If you understand what Jesus Christ did for you on the cross through His death to save you from sin, then you understand what it means to be secure in His salvation. God loved us so much even when we were still wretched, rebellious sinners, that He sent His only Son to die on the cross for us. Paul already stated this truth in Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8, NASB95)[22] He did this, sent His Son to the cross to bring us to Himself, if He made this supreme sacrifice out of love for wretched sinners, how could we believe that after we are saved His love is not strong enough to keep us saved? God’s love and power are great enough to free us from the bondage of sin and to keep us saved until our salvation is complete and we enter our glorified state. Let me close with a quote from John MacArthur, “Christ, the perfect Priest, offered the perfect sacrifice to make us perfect. To deny the security of the believer is therefore to deny the sufficiency of the work of Christ. To deny the security of the believer is to misunderstand the heart of God, to misunderstand the gift of Christ, to misunderstand the meaning of the cross, to misunderstand the biblical meaning of salvation.”[23] For whatever time we have left on this earth and then through all of eternity, our glorious Lord and Savior will keep us safe, will keep us eternally secure, in His eternal love by His everlasting omnipotence.
[1]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[2]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[3]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[4]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[5]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[6]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[7]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[8]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[9]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[10]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[11]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[12]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[13]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[14]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[15]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[16]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[17]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[18]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[19]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[20]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[21]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[22]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[23]MacArthur, John F., The MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Romans 1-8. Chicago, IL : Moody Press, 1991.