Are You Sure?
Are You Sure?
Romans 8:31:39
A few years ago, we went camping in Grayson Highlands State Park in the mountains of Virginia. We got to the park and then set off to camp in the back country off the Appalachian Trail. The area is known for wild horses and donkeys and wild steer cattle with long horns. We set up our campground and decided we were going to sleep in our hammocks off the ground. Before bed, I called home to let my wife know how the trip was going and that we were doing well. We had sent pictures of the horses and cattle already. Then my wife asked, “Are you sure those cattle aren’t going to gore you in the middle of the night?” That thought had never even crossed my mind before that moment, but it was a thought that I couldn’t get out of my head. I was no longer sure that the steer was not going to charge me or my son and gore us in the middle of the night.
So for the next 8 hours, I found myself waking up every five minutes, peeking over the side of the hammock to see the giant steer staring at me wondering when he was going to make his move. One simple, “Are you sure?” question, led to one of the longest, most paranoid night’s sleep of my life. Have you ever had someone ask the, “Are you sure?” question and the confidence you once had was immediately erased? It may have been an outfit you were wearing and someone asks, “Are you sure you want to wear that?” Or maybe right after you name your child, “Are you sure you want to name her that?” As a teacher, I have often asked, “Are you sure?” to see students when they answer correctly just to give them a moment of doubt.
Sometimes a well placed, “Are you sure?” has spared people from making a poor decision while other times it has turned people from doing what is good and believing what is true. The ancient serpent slithered into the garden and sowed the seed of doubt into Eve’s mind, “Are you sure God said that?” In the abundance of a lush garden, in perfect fellowship with God, Eve was made to doubt God with an, “Are you sure?” question. We are not in a lush garden paradise, but a land of thorns and thistles. We hear that question in the middle of our suffering? We experience pain and betrayal and we hear the ancient serpent whispering in our ear, “Are you sure God is with you?”
Everyone will suffer in life. We will all suffer to various degrees. Some may experience more physical suffering, others financial, others relational, but we will all face suffering. It is not wise to try to compare one’s suffering because you never really know what someone else is going through. Gathered here today are a number of people suffering in silence. Suffering often produced one of two responses. A member recently texted me in the midst of suffering,
I see in Scripture that suffering either leads us to worship God and depend on Him and His grace or people get bitter and blame Him for His will.
I think he is right. Will suffering lead you to worship and dependency or doubt and bitterness?
I believe the evil one uses our suffering in this life to accuse God speaking to our pain, “Are you sure God is for you? If God was for you, why would he allow your suffering” Friends, Romans 8 and specifically Romans 8:31-39 grounds our confidence in suffering to God’s eternal plan and his love for us. If you are tempted to doubt God’s goodness because of your suffering, if you are tempted to listen to the whispers of the “Are you sure?” questions about your pain and circumstances, then I pray you will leave with a rock solid confidence in God and his love for you. Let me ask you five questions in the hopes to reveal the doubts in your and to give you confidence in the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Are you sure God is for you? (Romans 8:31)
Paul begins with a summarizing question. He thinks back to all he has recently said in the last few chapters, but probably even going back to the beginning of the letter asking, Romans 8:31,
What then shall we say to these things?
The “these things” are Paul’s argument thus far in Romans. The gospel is the power of God for salvation to all who believe. Every human being is a sinner and lacks righteousness. Everyone has fallen short of the glory of God and deserves punishment. God in his kindness has sent Jesus Christ to be the perfect atoning sacrifice for everyone who would believe. In love, he died for sinners and was raised from the dead for their justification. God is the just and the justifier of everyone who has faith in Jesus. Salvation is freely offered in Jesus Christ to everyone who believes in him. Romans 8:31,
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
In Romans, Paul has made his argument, that God is for us in Jesus Christ. For while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. God is for us. But who is the us?
The ‘us’ are those who believe in Jesus Christ. The ‘us’ is Christians. If you have never repented of your sins and trusted in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, this passage is not speaking about you. It is speaking about those who trust that Jesus died for them and was raised from the dead for them and who is in heaven praying for them. You can be part of the ‘us’ and this passage and speak to you, if you believe. I pray you would consider the claims of Jesus Christ and you would believe today.
Beloved, if God is for us, who can be against us? Paul doesn’t mean that we have no one against us. We do. 1 Peter 5:8,
Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
The devil is against us. He is actively working to discourage and accuse us. We have worldly adversaries who have been captured by the evil one to do his will against us. But even though we have adversaries who are against us, they really have no power. John Chrysotom,
Yet those that be against us, so far are they from thwarting us at all, that even without their will they become to us the causes of crowns, and procurers of countless blessings, in that God’s wisdom turneth their plots unto our salvation and glory. See how really no one is against us!
God will work all the evil set against us ultimately for our good and to conform us into the image of Christ. If God is for us, it doesn’t matter who is against us? The armies of Egypt, drown in the sea. The walls of Jericho fell with a trumpet blast. The lions’ mouths were shut and the flame did not burn God’s servants. The mighty Goliath fell with one small smooth stone. Death was destroyed and salvation opened up on a cross of wood and empty tomb.
Are you sure God is for you? If you possess God, or better yet, if God possesses you, you have no need to fear anything. Because if God is for you, everything will work ultimately for God’s purposes for you.
Are you sure God will give to you? (Romans 8:32)
Paul continues his argument that God will be with you in the midst of your suffering. As Christians, we can rejoice in our suffering because Romans 5:3–5, we know that,
suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Paul makes an argument from the greater to the lesser. If God has met our greatest need, he will meet all other needs. How do you know God is for you? How do you know God will continue to be for you? He has given you His Son? Romans 8:32
He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
God did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all. God killed Jesus. Isaiah 53:10a
Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
Commenting on this verse, one pastor notes,
The Father did not spare his own Son. Sparing refers to suffering inflicted. Parents spare their children when they do not inflict the full measure of chastisement due. Judges spare criminals when they do not pronounce a sentence commensurate with the crime committed. By way of contrast, this is not what God the Father did. He did not withhold or lighten one whit of the full toll of judgment executed upon his own well-beloved and only-begotten Son. There was no alleviation of the stroke, for “it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief” (Isa. 53:10)
The Father did not spare his Son but gave him up for us all. He brought the full weight of his wrath on his Son, so we could be forgiven. God delivered Jesus over for our transgressions. In love, he sent him to the cross for us. If he has done that, how will he not give everything else?
As was listening to commentary on this verse someone made the similar illustration saying,
If I loved you enough to give my two sons to you right now so that you would escape the death penalty, and then you came over to my house and knocked on my door, after I just gave my two sons to die in the electric chair so you could go free, and you said, “Say, by the way do you have any socks? Could you give me their socks?”
What was interesting was my heart’s response when listening was, “How dare you ask for socks if he has given you his sons?” I felt God has already given so much. How can I ask him to give more? In that moment, the Lord revealed to me how hard it is for my heart to believe in the abundant, free generosity of God. I questioned his goodness. I questioned whether I could go to him with lesser matters.
Maybe you are like me? Maybe you can understand God’s salvation, but you may question his generosity. If God did not spare his own Son, how will he not give you all things? All things. He will give you Himself at all times. He will cause all your trials to work for your good. He will spare you from eternal judgment and bring you safely into his heavenly kingdom. He will help you overcome your sin. He will care for your children. He will care for your spouse. If he has met your greatest need, he will meet all the others.
Are you sure God will give to you? Are you sure God is for you? Beloved, look to the cross. Look what he has already done for you. If he has done the greater thing, he will surely do the lesser. What is the lesser thing you have a hard time believing God will do? He took the full weight of God’s wrath on the cross and said, “It is finished.” How will not give you what you need in whatever you face?
Are you sure God will justify you? (Romans 8:33)
The ‘these things’ are referring to Paul’s argument of justification by faith. Are you sure God will forgive you on the basis of his work? Are you sure you believe he doesn’t require your good works for salvation? Romans 8:33,
Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.
Again this doesn’t mean that no one will bring a charge against God’s people. Satan is the accuser of the brethren. Revelation 12:10–12,
And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”
Day and night, Satan lays his case against us. “Do you see that sin? See how she is treating her kids. Notice how he is boasting in his work. Look how he is lusting in his heart. See how she is coveting her beauty.” Satan makes his legal case that we do not deserve salvation because we are sinners. He accuses us day and night before our God. And what does God say?
Justified. Forgiven. Case Closed. He is mine. She belongs to me. I have adopted them as my children. I will never disown them. The blood of my Son covers them. They are now robed in the righteousness of Christ.
There is no one above God. God is the highest authority and the highest authority says we are forgiven.
We will always have accusers but the only voice that matters is God. And God says you are justified. And how are you justified? You justified through Jesus Christ and his finished work on the cross. If you believe in Jesus and have been given the Holy Spirit, you need not worry about what others say. You need not worry even about what you say against yourself. You only need to worry about who has the final word. And that is God and he says you are justified. You are made right with God on the basis of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Are you sure God will resurrect you? (Romans 8:34)
How do we know that God has justified us? How do we know God will give us a resurrection? The answer is in the Easter message. Jesus Christ has died and has been raised. Romans 8:34
Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
The basis of our faith is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He died for our sins and was raised from the dead for our justification. The resurrection is proof that God has forgiven sinners and has made a way for salvation. The empty tomb shouts God’s victory over death. The resurrection was a visible sign that God has accepted the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
The resurrection was not a private event. It was public. Jesus Christ appeared to his disciples and to upward of 500 people at one time. The disciples who were once scared and ran for their life including Peter who denied he even knew Jesus three times, after the resurrection were gladly willing to die for Jesus Christ. Why? Because Jesus proved he was the Lord. Our faith is not reasoned faith. We believe in a God who entered history, who literally died and literally bodily rose from the dead. Jesus has said to be the firstfruits of the resurrection. If we share in a death like his, we shall certainly share in a resurrection like his.
Who is to condemn? The only one who could condemn eternally has forgiven. Jesus has been raised and is seated in the place of power, at the right hand of God. And now, he is indeed interceding for us. He is our advocate before the Father. He is the one who speaks to Satan’s accusations. You will not be condemned. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Friend, if you are not Christian, what do you think about the death and resurrection of Jesus? Do you believe in the historical argument of Jesus? Do you believe in the historical belief that his followers testified to him being raised from the dead? Do you think his disciples would have died for a lie? Eleven of the twelve disciples were martyred with John being exiled on the island of Patmos. Does that make logical sense if Jesus was not resurrected from the dead?
Christian, you will not be condemned. The resurrection is proof that God has accepted Jesus' sacrifice for believing sinners. Jesus is at God’s right hand interceding for us. You can be sure that God is for us, he will give us all we need in life and death, he will justify us, and he will never condemn us, but give us an eternal resurrection.
Are you sure God will keep you? (Romans 8:35-39)
Are you sure? Even when our minds believe the truth, we may be tempted to doubt. And our doubts are not usually intellectual, but emotional. We do not feel like God will keep us because of our suffering. This has been the history of God’s people. Paul will quote Psalm 44 in verse 36. I think it would be helpful for us to hear it and to hear their complaint to the Lord. Psalm 44:4–26,
You are my King, O God;
ordain salvation for Jacob!
Through you we push down our foes;
through your name we tread down those who rise up against us.
For not in my bow do I trust,
nor can my sword save me.
But you have saved us from our foes
and have put to shame those who hate us.
In God we have boasted continually,
and we will give thanks to your name forever.
But you have rejected us and disgraced us
and have not gone out with our armies.
You have made us turn back from the foe,
and those who hate us have gotten spoil.
You have made us like sheep for slaughter
and have scattered us among the nations.
You have sold your people for a trifle,
demanding no high price for them.
You have made us the taunt of our neighbors,
the derision and scorn of those around us.
You have made us a byword among the nations,
a laughingstock among the peoples.
All day long my disgrace is before me,
and shame has covered my face
at the sound of the taunter and reviler,
at the sight of the enemy and the avenger.
All this has come upon us,
though we have not forgotten you,
and we have not been false to your covenant.
Our heart has not turned back,
nor have our steps departed from your way;
yet you have broken us in the place of jackals
and covered us with the shadow of death.
If we had forgotten the name of our God
or spread out our hands to a foreign god,
would not God discover this?
For he knows the secrets of the heart.
Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.
Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord?
Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever!
Why do you hide your face?
Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?
For our soul is bowed down to the dust;
our belly clings to the ground.
Rise up; come to our help!
Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!
Have you ever felt like this? God we are trusting in you, but look at our life? It feels like you have forsaken us, forgotten us, turned against us. If you have felt that, you are not alone. Paul, himself, has felt that. And this is Paul’s answer to our suffering. Romans 8:35–37,
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
In all our suffering, we are more than conquered through God who loved us. God will cause all these things to work for our good to conform us into the image of Christ. All tribulation, the external squeezing of life; all distress, the internal pressure of the mind and heart; all persecution, suffering because of the name of Christ; all famine and nakedness and all danger, all the intense ways Christians suffer in a fallen world; and even in death from the sword, God will work all these things so that we conquer sin and death by his love.
Paul is not speaking merely hypothetical here. He has experienced all of these trials. And he has experienced how God has used them to conquer his flesh and mold him into Christ. Philippians 4:11–13,
Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Our suffering will either cause us to worship God and depend on Him and His grace or to be bitter and blame Him for His will. How will you handle it?
Paul faced all of these trials and at the end of them he could say, “I am sure. I am convinced. I am persuaded.” Romans 8:38–39,
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Are you sure God is for you? If God is for you, who can be against you? If God is for you, then all the things in this life will work for you and nothing will separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
On March 24, 1999, John Piper received this letter from a pastor who faced the hard reality of suffering.
I serve a wonderful congregation in a small town in central California. . . . On February 14th of this year, Tony, a young man of 27 years who had been visiting us, took his own life. He left behind a family that loved him, which included 4 beautiful children, and one resounding question. Why?
As I watched the medical examiners pull his stiffened body out of a van, a sense of dread overcame me. I asked myself, “What could have possessed him to do such a thing?” This question haunted my heart and mind throughout the following weeks. It was like a cold draft that invaded the warmth of my family and ministry. It ultimately caused me to take a leave of absence from our church to search for answers. It was during this time that I was led quite providentially [to the truth of living by faith in future grace, and] . . . God’s grace and the power of his Spirit . . . [opened] a door in my heart through which I could behold the wondrous beauty of God in Christ Jesus. This beauty has helped me better apprehend the purpose for which I was created: to glorify God and enjoy him forever!
In the end I learned that it wasn’t what possessed Tony that compelled him to take his life, but rather what he didn’t possess (apprehend): all that God is for us in Jesus Christ. I have left all other questions, concerning this matter, along with Tony’s life, in God’s sovereign hand.
That gripped me. Tony took his life because he could not see his suffering through the lens that God is for us in Jesus Christ. And led him to despair.
Beloved, suffering will come. It will lead you to worship and depend on God and his grace or it will lead you to bitterness and despair. If you understand the beauty and majesty of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, you will be sure that God is for you. When those “Are you sure?” questions arise, I want you to be absolutely 100% sure that nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:31-39 erased the, “Are you sure?” Go back through the outline and make each question as a statement.
God is for you!(Romans 8:31)
God will give to you all things! (Romans 8:32)
God will justify you! (Romans 8:33-33)
God will resurrect you! (Romans 8:34)
God will keep you to the end! (Romans 8:35-39)
Let me simply conclude with giving you this passage one more time. Let it wash over like an avalanche of God’s grace.Romans 8:31–39,
What then shall we say to these things? If God is 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 with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.